School Committe votes for Comp's new robotics program

Date: 3/13/2012

March 14, 2012

By G. Michael Dobbs

news@thereminder.com

CHICOPEE — Chicopee Comprehensive High School will upgrade its technology offerings with the addition of a robotics and computer programming system with the approval of the School Committee.

At its March 7 meeting, the School Committee voted to approve the bid of $69,576.50 for the purchase of the system from the lowest bidder, Technical Education Products, Inc.

According to information submitted by Kenneth Widelo, the director of Career & Technical Education, the system is designed to teach " programming, interface and material handling, quality control, production control and work cell development using robotics."

School Committee member Donald Lamothe said, "This [program] brings robotics to Comp."

School Superintendent Richard Rege explaiend the program will "bring more engineering training to the CAD/CAM program [computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing] which has been seeing declining enrollment."

"This is a step in the right direction," Rege added.

The equipment and software will be funded through the School Department's Perkins Grant.

The School Committee also approved two transfers of funding to put interactive white boards into every third, fourth and fifth grade classroom in the city. Rege explained that through a Race to The Top grant the city received the white boards and that $20,000 was needed to pay for wiring the computer interactive devices in the classrooms.

The School Committee also heard reports from Janet Reid, the principal of the Szetela Early Childhood School and David Potter, the principal of the Patrick E. Bowe School.

Reid told committee members, "As always we are full." The school has 257 students, 117 of those are special needs children.

"We are noticing more and more severe special needs [students] every year," Reid said. "It's getting a lot tougher."

Reid added," We always need more money and more space."

Potter said his students and teachers have been "focusing on celebrating high performance and positive behaviors."

Committee member Adam Lamontagne asked Potter about curriculum changes he has made to prevent Bowe, which the state has classified as a Level Three school, from slipping to a Level Four rating, indicating a failing school.

Potter said he and his staff are building a school "where learning is respected" at the same time the teachers are involved in working to share goals.

Potter added that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Survey scores from last year show "small but positive gains across the board."