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Date: 10/26/2023
CHICOPEE — Although the hiring season is slowing, there are still 70 open positions within the Chicopee Public Schools.
Human Resources Director Deborah Green said an audit of the postings that are out on SchoolSpring had been updated. Of the 70 openings, 26 are for teachers and 20 are for paraprofessionals. Green noted that 16 of those postings are for new positions.
Green provided this information during the Oct. 18 School Committee meeting.
She shared that there are 12 new hires, three of which are teachers and four paraprofessionals.
She went on to say that the school department has moved on to hosting orientation once a week as the hiring season is slowing down.
The School Committee also approved the resumption field trip that will allow students from Dupont Middle School to travel to Washington, D.C., in June 2024.
The trip, which will run for four days and three nights from June 4-7, has “been on the books for many years,” Principal Jon Endelos told the committee, noting there was a disruption in recent years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve been on the trip myself back at our days at Fairview Middle School,” he said. “The value of the trip goes well beyond taking a trip.
Endelos touted the trip’s value to the students’ understanding of civics and credited eight grade social studies teacher Joshua Chrzanowski with doing the necessary research toward its relaunch. He added interest in the trip has be high.
“We’ve had several parents [show interest] — not because we promoted it, not because we talked about it, but they reached out to me directly and asked me to try to bring it back to Dupont for their eighth grade kids,” he said. With 50 families expressing desire to participate through a Google Form survey and a handful of parents regularly looking for updates, he said it was clear there was strong interest in the program’s return.
The cost of the trip is $992 per student for a bus trip through a tour company called Explorica. Endelos explained that many tour companies have been getting away from bus trips in favor of trips by plane, which drives up prices. For comparison, he said, EF Educational Tours sought $2,300 per student.
Endelos added the trip used to be five days and four nights, but with costs increasing, school officials decided to cut the length of the trip in the interest of fiscal responsibility without losing value.
Endelos stressed that in order to keep the trip private for Chicopee, there must be at least 50 students participating. If there are fewer than 50, the price remains the same, but the school must co-op with another school or district. If a handful of students determine they cannot attend after initially committing, dropping the number below 50, Chicopee would not be able to maintain its private tour. With that said, Endelos opined that they should be able to enlist more than 50 students.
“Right now, we have 50 students but we haven’t put it officially out there as we are doing this, so I’m gathering that we’ll have some additional interest if this goes forward,” Endelos said.
The principal added he planned to reach out to the office of U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) for support, noting that in doing so in the past, students were able to receive “the whole shebang” with a White House and Capitol tour.
When asked about subsidizing the trip for families who cannot afford it, Endelos said the school has ideas on fundraising activities.
Ward 9 School Committee member Ronald Benard noted he ran the trip for several years while teaching at Fairview Middle School and called it a “rewarding” endeavor.
The committee also accepted a gift of a 2024 Mustang GT convertible from the Ford Motor Company and Marcotte Ford for the Career and Technical Education Program. The estimated value of the donated car is $30,000.
Carl Ingram, director of the program, provided a letter to the committee that explained the vehicle in question had been involved in a flood at the car company’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan and therefore could not be sold. The car had since been cleaned and prepared for donation by the dealership.
“Students will have the ability to work on new electrical and mechanical control systems found in new cars today. Testing and diagnosing with the school’s extensive computer diagnostic controllers will provide our students with additional competencies to give them a competitive edge in the market,” the letter read.
Staff Writer Lauren LeBel contributed to this report.