City Council

Minutes from the City Council-School Committee Joint Meeting on Tuesday November 29, 2022 at 6:32 pm in the City Hall Auditorium are as follows: Laflamme, Frank N., Pres. At-Large Councilor Present Roy, Gerard (Jerry) A. At-Large Councilor Present via Zoom Tillotson, James K. At-Large Councilor Present via Zoom Zygarowski, Robert J. At-Large Councilor Present McAuliffe, Joel D. Ward 1 Councilor Present via Zoom Brooks, Shane D. Ward 2 Councilor Present via Zoom Lopez, Delmarina Ward 3 Councilor Present Balakier, George A. Ward 4 Councilor Present Krampits, Fred T. Ward 5 Councilor Present Dobosz, Derek Ward 6 Councilor Present Courchesne, William C. Ward 7 Councilor Absent Labrie, Gary R. Ward 8 Councilor Present Pniak-Costello, Mary-Beth Ward 9 Councilor Present Mayor Vieau Chairman, School Committee Present Szetela, Chester At-Large School Committee Present Szetela-Lopes, Susan At-Large School Committee Present Wagner, Timothy Ward 1 School Committee Present Barsalou, David Ward 2 School Committee Present Peret, Sandra Ward 4 School Committee Present Schofield, Grace Ward 5 School Committee Present Arrived @ 6:35 Shumsky, Samuel Ward 6 School Committee Present Lamothe, Donald Ward 7 School Committee Present Girouard, Douglas Ward 8 School Committee Present via Zoom Benard, Ronald Ward 9 School Committee Present --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme to open the meeting. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme to accept the resignation of Saulo DePaula. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme to open nominations. Councilor Pniak-Costello nominated Jason Dout. Councilor Brooks nominated Robert Lingenberg. School Committee member Shumsky nominated Yvette Tootle. --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme to open to public input. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme to close public input. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. Councilor Laflamme stated that each candidate would have the opportunity to introduce themselves. Yvette Tootle, Kurtz Street went first. Interested in serving on the school committee, representation matters. Have energy and compassion to serve the city well. Work with the Amherst regional school district. Have been in education for over 20 years. Relocated with husband and son. True meaning of community, volunteer within the community. Want to give back to the city that has given so much. Jason Dout, Chicopee Street, has been a resident for over 30 years. Think it would be an excellent experience, rooted in Chicopee, worked with youth in different areas. Worked at Hampden Charter School of Science as the dean of school culture. School culture should be focus. Students can come to be the best versions of themselves. Being present in the city and in ward 3, will be there. Children are our future. Gracious and appreciative to be allowed to speak and run for this position. Robert Lingenberg, resident for 56 years, lived on Foss Ave for 15 years. Has a son that graduated in 2016, one in 10th grade and one in 8th grade. Wife is a behaviorist at Bellamy. Numerous friends who are teachers. Coached numerous sports for AJAX. Looking to help the city out. School Committee member Wagner asked if you are appointed would you run for re-election? Yvette stated would like to reserve the option for running depending on how the job is done. Difficult to answer. Jason stated here with the hope and purpose to not just fill the position. Want to do what is best for the youth. Every intention of running again. Bob stated absolutely, lived in Chicopee entire life. School Committee member Shumsky asked what is one issue you would like to see? Yvette stated superintendent selection. Being a part of the selection process. Having experience & background, bring a set of knowledge skills and values. Strengthen the PE programs and adaptive PE programs. Jason stated superintendent search first and foremost. School committee has a leader set in place. Best interest of the city every student has potential. See every student succeed. Every student has talent and abilities. Bob stated the superintendent is a huge decision. Reach out and get more teachers. There are many spots that are not taken. Separate so teachers want to work in this city. Councilor McAuliffe asked with the added opportunities what priorities for funding would you put in place for both the short and long term? Yvette stated teacher attrition is a priority. Increase the quality. There is a teacher shortage nationwide. The pool is shallow, if you use funds for teachers. Teachers are doing a lot on their own income. Lessen the load/burden on all staff. Can bolster and show appreciation for all staff. Don’t have subs to cover the classrooms. Pay people a living wage for the job they are doing. Jason stated think taking advantage of financial opportunities, looking toward the future. Students in the schools now have needs. Difficult question to answer. Utilizing money available. Make school where teachers and students look forward to coming to school. Use different finances to make a good school that all staff and students want to come to. Bob stated don’t know a lot about these two acts. Lot of teachers use their own funds, money could be used to take some of the burden off teachers. Security. Safety has to be addressed. Councilor Pniak-Costello stated what do you feel about the crisis with substance abuse disorder? Yvette stated real issue in the community. Some of the initiatives from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have been more re-active. Get in front of it. Make part of the health & wellness programs. Schools are now taking on parental responsibilities. Would like to think kids are learning to just say no at home. They can become addicted to legal and illegal drugs. Wait to long to explain the effects of drugs, address earlier. Can learn from the way sex education was introduced to younger students. Be more intentional. Have to present in the current day and age. Can’t shy away from it. Part of the community. Part of building character. Jason stated when we think of substance abuse look at the Council and see Bob Zygarowski and remember the DARE program. Message missing for our youth. Substance use and substance abuse. Think and talk about opioids when we think of mental health issues. Struggles that students have had. Quick to jump to a quick solution. Need to educate students. Reasoning students turn to these substances, know why its happening, get the right message. Dare to stay off drugs. Challenge met whatever creative way to address issue. Bob stated back to the last questions, funds. Create a new curriculum, boys don’t talk a lot about drugs in school. Depression, anxiety, needs to be addressed at home and at school. Councilor Lopez asked what ward 3 specific educational needs do you want to see addressed? Jason stated current ward 3 parent. Make sure students’ needs are met. In order for the needs to be met they should be specific. Poverty, food shortage. See concerns daily. There was an email about parking, addressing the needs of the school. See things on the news. Students shouldn’t have to deal with this. Student success should be celebrated. Bob stated very diverse population. Crossing of roads and speeding. Crosswalks should be painted. Yvette stated most pressing is the literacy initiative. COVID has had in impact on the literacy skills, taken a slide, partner with the local library. Book club meets monthly. Partner with the school system. Could have literacy prime time. Councilor Brooks asked how would you address integration of special ed students with peer students in a gateway city? Bob stated hear about challenges, not sure there is a clear answer. Trying to put children in with peers. Sometimes classes get disruption, get more teachers and paras. Yvette stated inclusion, passionate about it, there is an absolute priority, students are integrated as much as possible. Some extreme students maybe 20 minutes some students all day except when receiving services. Inclusive system may be different for each student. Jason stated special ed believe strongly in integration. Gen ed students/let special ed students shine. Easy to lump students into one category. Wide variety of needs. Follow inclusion base. Understand each child has a gift inside. Gen ed students together regardless of label, are no different. Can be leaders themselves. School Committee member Schofield stated we’ve talked a lot about serious issues. What do you see as a challenge in the city? Yvette stated one challenge as a city how we make every community like they are a part of the community. Tree lighting on the commons, make sure all feel welcome. The library is a safe space, love to see more targeted programming. Jason stated community is very important. National night out is amazing. Preparing our students for life when we were in school college was pushed. That is not the path every student will take. Students don’t know how to balance a checkbook or mail a letter. Higher education may not be a reality for all students. Set students up for success. Bob stated back to the biggest problem, security. Teachers and paras, a great place to be. Want school to be a safe place. School Committee member Lamothe stated not enough money for everything, what happens when the money dries up? Jason stated comes to funding, the truth people hope for a money tree. Part of the response is being open to speaking with the ward. Listen to community, see what the needs are. Importance of extra-curricular activities. Need well rounded students. Administration, although students’ needs come first. Bob stated very difficult question, not sure you can cut education. At some point in time you have to see how much sports cost. Look for different grants. No easy answer. Yvette stated cutting funds is a necessary evil in education. Know and academic coach can be cut, extra positions that aren’t critical to the classroom. Know what’s important to the community. Ways to supplement the arts. Can provide experience. Councilor Laflamme stated what are your thoughts on the CTE program? Bob stated short answer, think it’s fantastic. Kid loves the program, comes home excited every day. Boys are honors and high honors even with being in CTE. Senior year can do either way. Yvette stated with CTE not every kid will go to college, program allows students to be career ready. Jason stated having graduated from Comp, students are now extremely successful. Important to prepare students for life. Prepare them to be the best person possible. School Committee member Barsalou stated select the superintendent very soon, what would be the best quality of the next superintendent of schools? Yvette stated philosophy on education, believe the superintendent needed to have been in the classroom. Met with resistance, should be someone who has come up through the ranks. Jason stated communication is key, communicate appropriately. Capable of communicating appropriately. Should be engaging. Thinking about the bigger picture. Should be approachable. Bob stated should have experience. Would ask why not still in their last position being a people person is huge. Relate to parents and children. School Committee member Peret asked what skill set/experience makes you the best candidate? Bob stated superintendent of golf course. Hired students, coached sports. Have three children. People person, like to listen to both sides of each situation. Yvette stated compassion, enthusiasm, and homeowner. Volunteer, extracurricular, educator, administrator. Compassion and energy to have the best school district possible. Jason stated qualified, well-rounded. Attended and graduated from local schools. Kids, teacher, administrator, experience. View issues through many lenses, outgoing person, community person. Engaging the community. Have viewpoints, understand others view. Make sure others are heard. School Committee member Girouard asked what type of program added to the high school program? Jason stated double edged sword, knowing budget concerns, life skills, preparing for life. Bob stated classes that get into drug usage. Yvette stated transitional services, transition coordinator only with an IEP, should be for all students so we know all needs are being met. Councilor Brooks stated daughter lived through the active shooter threat, last week there was a gun on premise at the sword game. Do you support resource officers? Metal detectors? Did extensive full active shooter scenario on campus full scale scenario. Safety has to be a top priority. Jason stated yes, the most important thing is the students feel safe. Students let their walls down when they feel safe. Resource officers are important. Metal detectors allow students to know they are safe. Bob stated short answer is yes. Every school should have a resource officer in it. Was about 50 yards from the gun incident. Chicopee PD did a fantastic job. Want kids to go to school to learn. Don’t mind a metal detector. --Motion made by Councilor Brooks for a formal vote. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme to state the choice of new member. Roll call was as follows: Councilors Laflamme, Roy, McAuliffe, Lopez, Dobosz, and Pniak-Costello, School Committee members Vieau, Barsalou, Shumsky, Lamothe, and Benard voted Jason. Councilors Zygarowski, Brooks, Labrie and School Committee member Girouard voted Robert. Councilors Balakier, Krampits, School Committee members Szetela, Szetela-Lopes, Wagner, Peret, and Schofield voting Yvette. --Motion made by Councilor McAuliffe to accept the withdrawal of Robert Lingenberg. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme for a 2nd formal vote. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. --Motion made by Councilor Laflamme to state choice of new member. Roll call was as follows: Councilors Laflamme, Roy, Tillotson, Zygarowski, McAuliffe, Lopez, Dobosz, Labrie, Pniak-Costello, School Committee members Vieau, Barsalou, Schofield, Shumsky, Lamothe, Girouard, & Benard voting Jason. Councilors Brooks, Balakier, Krampits, School Committee members Szetela, Szetela-Lopes, Wagner, & Peret voting Yvette. Jason is the new School Committee person with 16 votes. --Motion made by Councilor Lopez to adjourn at 8:23. Motion passed by a unanimous roll call vote. Councilor Courchesne absent. ATTEST: KEITH W RATTELL CITY CLERK