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Date: 7/5/2023
AGAWAM — When students return to Robinson Park School in September, their school will look the same, but there will be one important change: It will have a new name.
Since it opened at the end of Begley Street in 1959, the school has been named for the state park it borders, but will now be known as the William P. Sapelli Elementary School. Until now, it was the only one of the town’s four elementary schools not named for a former school superintendent. Sapelli, a former superintendent of schools in Agawam and current mayor, served as Robinson Park School principal from 1990 to 2002.
The change was approved by the School Committee at its June 27 meeting. City Councilor Gerald Smith proposed renaming the school for Sapelli when he spoke during citizen speak time at the May 23 meeting.
“Everybody I’ve talked to has said that Bill Sapelli’s done a fantastic job in education and also as our mayor. He’s devoted his entire life to the Agawam school system,” Smith told the committee at the May meeting.
Smith, who worked with the committee to make his proposal a reality, was in the audience to witness the vote. Earlier, during citizen speak time, he urged members to vote in favor of the resolution.
He told them that Sapelli is “a gentleman well deserving of this honor” for serving Agawam for nearly 50 years as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent of schools and mayor. Smith has known Sapelli since he was 15 years old, and was Sapelli’s baseball coach.
The four committee members who attended the final meeting of the school year, Shelley Borgatti-Reed, A.J. Christopher, Dawn DeMatteo and Michael Perry, voted to approve a resolution renaming Robinson Park School. The resolution was sponsored by them as well as two absent members, Wendy Rua and Kerri O’Connor.
Sapelli, who in his role as mayor serves as chair of the School Committee, did not introduce the motion for the resolution and abstained from the vote. Borgatti-Reed, the vice chair, presided during the vote.
There was no discussion prior to the vote, but Borgatti-Reed did thank Smith for proposing “this well-deserved honor” for Sapelli. Borgatti-Reed added that she and her five colleagues were honored to sponsor the resolution. At the end of the meeting, she read the entire resolution into the record.
“I can’t tell you how proud and honored I am and humbled by this action,” said Sapelli in his remarks following the vote. He thanked the committee and Smith for the “distinct honor” of naming a school after him: “It doesn’t happen often, as we all know, and it’s quite a special occasion for me. So, thank you one and all. I greatly, greatly appreciate it.”
Just before the meeting adjourned, Perry congratulated Sapelli, saying he has been “a fearless leader of this committee” and “a wonderful mayor” for the town.
“So, this is a great honor. I think it’s well deserved,” said Perry. He and Borgatti-Reed were the only members who mentioned the renaming in their closing remarks.
A formal dedication ceremony is planned for September. In addition to changing the name on the exterior of the school, an engraved plaque will be placed inside along with a portrait of Sapelli.
A lifelong town resident who graduated from Agawam High School in 1972, Sapelli’s educational career in Agawam began in 1978 when he was hired to teach grade 8 social studies and science at the junior high school. He had considered a business career, but found he enjoyed working with kids when he started substitute teaching.
Sapelli’s rise through various administrative positions began in 1985. That was the year he was appointed assistant principal at what was then called Agawam Middle School. In 1990, Sapelli was became principal at Robinson Park School, serving in that position until then-Superintendent Mary Czajkowski recruited him to be assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in 2002.
He planned to retire in 2011, but was appointed interim superintendent and then superintendent following the unexpected departure of Czajkowski. Sapelli retired as superintendent in the summer of 2017, and weeks later entered the race for mayor, prevailing in a three-way race and winning reelection in 2019 and 2021. He recently announced that he will not seek a fourth term.
The last time an Agawam school was renamed was in 2010, when Agawam Middle School — in the Main Street building that opened in 1922 as the town’s first high school — was rechristened Roberta Doering School. Doering was a pioneering public education advocate who served on the School Committee from 1970 until her death in 2016 at age 91.
Phelps School in the center of Agawam, built in 1939, is named for Benjamin Phelps, who served as the town’s first school superintendent from 1920 until he was killed in an accident in 1946. Granger School in Feeding Hills, opened in 1950, is named for Clifford Granger, who was School Committee chair when Phelps died. Granger was then appointed interim school superintendent, but died unexpectedly just days after Phelps.
Clark School, in the southeastern part of town, opened in 1957 as South Street School. It was renamed for former School Superintendent James Clark when he retired in 1971 after 17 years.