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Date: 9/28/2023
AGAWAM — When the School Committee renamed the former Robinson Park School as William Sapelli Elementary School, the change required more than just a new name on the building.
It also involved a host of other updates — such as rebranding the school’s student behavior program and refreshing its mascot. Principal Stephanie Harris and new lead teacher Kristin Dietz worked with a group of teachers during the summer to come up with a plan to bridge the “beloved” traditions of Robinson Park School and the new “spirit” of the Sapelli School.
They essentially rebranded the school, which opened in 1959.
“A school rebrand is really an opportunity to honor our roots, while positioning ourselves for the future,” Harris said during a brief presentation at a School Committee meeting earlier this month.
A key part of the rebranding was the school’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports program, which is a set of ideas and tools to help improve student behavior. The PBIS plan at Robinson Park School taught students to follow the “RPS Way” — to be Responsible, Polite, Safe students. When they followed these behaviors, students were rewarded with incentives, such as Eagle Earnings (in honor of the school mascot, Robbie the Eagle) that could be used to shop at RobbieMart, the school store.
Instead of trying to make RPS Way work for the Sapelli School, Harris, Dietz and the school’s PBIS teacher team created a new student behavior program.
“We focused on who we are as educators and what we value,” said Harris. “And then it came together — we’re eagles. No bird soars higher than we do. We have powerful vision. We’re problem solvers. We’re class acts — just like Mr. Sapelli. Lastly, and most importantly, we nurture our young.”
Building on the eagle theme, they tweaked the look of the school mascot and changed the school colors from teal and purple to blue and orange. School staff also decided to celebrate with students about how “awesome” it is to be an eagle.
“We needed to get kids excited,” said Dietz. “Change is hard for everybody and the RPS Way was really ingrained in everything we did at Robinson Park School. To bring about change, all the adults needed to be excited. And we needed to have that excitement to influence the students.”
Students received T-shirts and bracelets at a “high energy” pep rally that explained the new PBIS plan on the second day of school. Students came to the cafeteria-auditorium by grade level with music playing and staff dancing as they waved blue and orange pom-poms.
A new Robbie the Eagle logo also was introduced to students, who learned he had “a little bit of a refresh” during the summer. Kids were then shown seven slides describing how Sapelli School students can demonstrate expected behavior with new PBIS theme: SOAR. The letters stand for Show pride and respect, Own your actions, Act responsibly and Remember safety.
Harris admits she was a bit nervous at it first about rebranding the school, but said she is “so incredibly proud” to have been part of designing the new SOAR program for students. Students are learning each letter of the SOAR program with lesson plans developed for them and their teachers. Students also collected Eagle Earnings for their first RobbieMart trip.
She said the new PBIS theme has been “a hit” with students and has helped solidify the name change in a positive way.
“For the most part, we’ve all adjusted nicely to the new name. We recognize it can take up to six months for something new to become a habit, so we’re patient with the transition and recognize there may be slipups from time to time.”
In addition to the new name on the outside, other physical changes include new signs at the end of Begley Street and in the entrance circle, a new entrance rug, revised signage throughout the inside and new letterhead stationery. Although most of the old signs were discarded, Harris said the school did hang on to some RPS artifacts and gifted part of one sign to a former RPS principal.
Rob Clickstein, the School Department’s business manager, estimated it cost about $9,000 for the name change. He said it was spread out over various funding sources, including the school’s PTO and PBIS funds, money from the School Committee budget and the department’s School Choice revolving fund. The town’s Building Maintenance Department paid for the outdoor signs.
The school had been the only one of the town’s four elementary school not named for a former school superintendent. Sapelli not only served as school superintendent in Agawam before he was elected mayor, but he was the principal of Robinson Park School from 1990 to 2002. Sapelli is not running for reelection as mayor this year.
A formal dedication ceremony is planned for Oct. 3 at 5 p.m. at the school. Students from Sapelli School are expected to participate in the event, which will include unveiling a portrait of Sapelli for the school lobby.