The Westfield NewsSearch for The Westfield News Westfield350.com The WestfieldNews Serving Westfield, Southwick, and surrounding Hilltowns “TIME IS THE ONLY WEATHER CRITIC WITHOUT TONIGHT AMBITION.” Partly Cloudy. JOHN STEINBECK Low of 55. www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL. 86 NO. 151 $1.00 FRIDAY,TUESDAY, JULY JUNE 30, 27, 20212017 VOL. 75 cents 90 NO. 180 Three new principals hired for Westfield public schools By AMY PORTER cipal of Paper Mill Elementary School. district math coach for three years. Staff Writer Southampton Road Principal Kathleen “I am happy that we filled these positions. WESTFIELD – Westfield Public Schools O’Donnell, who will be retiring on Oct. 12, I think we have some quality candidates. Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski will serve as the interim principal at Abner There are a lot of openings all across the announced this week the hiring of several Gibbs while a search committee for that state, and we have been fortunate to find key administrators in the district. position is formed. high quality candidates,” Czaporowski said. Thomas Osborn of Amherst will be the “My five years at Abner Gibbs have been The superintendent said the district is still new principal of the new Westfield K-8 wonderful. I am grateful for the time I spent needs to hire for several key positions, Virtual School, Mary Cieplik of there. I am very excited to be joining the including a health and safety coordinator, Longmeadow has been hired as the new Paper Mill community. I look forward to and a supervisor of counseling and social principal of Southampton Road Elementary building relationships with students, staff, emotional learning. Both positions, as well School, and Jonathan Scagel of Hatfield and families,” Burgess said. as staffing and supplies for the Virtual K-8 will be the new principal for the Fort Rena Piper has also been selected as a School and eight new school adjustment Meadow Early Childhood Center. All three new elementary assistant principal for the counselors will be paid for out of the three- are new to the district. district. She will be serving four days a year Elementary and Secondary School Czaporowski also announced that Abner week at Southampton Road and one day at Emergency Relief (ESSER II) funding, of STEFAN CZAPOROWSKI, Gibbs Elementary School Principal Stacy Abner Gibbs. Piper has taught in Westfield Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Burgess has been appointed as the new prin- Public Schools since 1993, most recently as See New Principals, Page 3 Westfield COVID-19 rate continues to creep up By PETER CURRIER died from the virus. Though New England as a whole has the relatively high vaccination rate, at least one Staff Writer The 16 new cases brings Westfield’s pan- highest vaccination rate in the U.S., Hampden part of the state has made national headlines WESTFIELD – The COVID-19 infection demic total to 3,138. County has consistently had the lowest vacci- as a COVID-19 outbreak there grows out of rate in Westfield continues to creep upwards Health Director Joseph Rouse did not nation rate in Massachusetts. In Westfield, 53 control. as the city’s Health Department reported 16 immediately return a request for comment. percent of the city’s approximately 42,000 As of July 28, the Provincetown COVID-19 new cases in a week. The rise in the number of new weekly cases residents have received at least one shot of cluster had grown to 833 cases, days after a The July 28 report showed 24 Westfield comes just a few weeks removed from any of the approved vaccines. 48 percent of local mask mandate was put in place in residents in isolation with active cases of Westfield’s pandemic low of just one case in a Westfield residents are fully vaccinated. response to the growing cluster. Many of the COVID-19. Zero deaths were reported in the single week. It echoes a rise in cases across President Joseph R. Biden had set a national initially reported cases in the cluster were reporting period. Westfield has not had a the country as vaccination efforts stall and the goal of getting 70 percent of Americans vac- reported to have been among vaccinated peo- recorded COVID-19 death in several months. more infectious Delta Variant becomes the cinated by July 4. ple following a July 4 celebration in the town. 113 Westfield residents are known to have dominant variant. Though Massachusetts as a whole has a Southwick Fire grant could reduce resident insurance costs By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Editor SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Fire Department this week received $8,475 in grant funding from the Commonwealth Security Trust Fund that could reduce residents’ insurance costs. Fire Chief Russ Anderson was notified of the award by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Office of Grants and Research. Anderson said he was grateful to receive it and that he had applied for the grant, which will outfit department vehicles with computers. “This grant will be used to put tablets in apparatus to RUSS ANDERSON allow the use of pre arrival Southwick Fire Chief instructions and tactical infor- mation on properties in town,” Anderson said. Having this information not only assists responders on a call, but ultimately could save residents money. “This helps to reduce loss and increase the safety of responders,” Anderson said. “Our goal is to reduce our insur- ance rating within the town that could reflect on cheaper insur- ance rates for residents.” This is the first time the town has received this grant. Anderson said the department is filling its open fulltime paramedic/firefighter positions and two employees are starting the firefighting academy this week. Summer jobs “We still need per diems,” noted Anderson. Ray Little and Vlad Vardakob landscape at Franklin Avenue Elementary School July 29. The two young men are part Anyone interested in a per diem position at Southwick Fire of the YourhWorks sumamer employment program. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS) Department should contact Anderson at 413-569-6363 or stop by the station, 15 Depot St., Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Lecture will explore Southwick life in mid 1700s By LORI SZEPELAK per snapper,” said Hamberg. “I spearheaded the drive to establish a Correspondent As a senior at Southwick High School, town appointed Historical Commission SOUTHWICK — Local historian and Hamberg said he joined the Southwick to preserve historic buildings and sites, lifelong resident Lee David Hamberg Historical Society and read “cover to and have served various positions in the will be sharing the life and times of cover” Maude (Gillett) Davis’s 1951 Southwick Historical Society continu- Joseph Moore as part of a special pro- “Historical Facts and Stories About ously since 1976,” he said. gram Aug. 8 at the Southwick History Southwick.” Hamberg will describe the “daily Museum. “I provided Social Studies teacher and stress” that Moore and most people at Hamberg, author of the new book department chair Dominic Dieni with the time experienced. The Moore family “Southwick Revisited,” has planned the information and locations to photograph lived in the Moore House from 1751 informative 30-minute lecture titled for an audio/slide program on Southwick through the 1840s. “The Joseph Moore Story” beginning at history which was put together in 1975 “Land had to be cleared for crops and 2:30 p.m. Following a question-and- for the U.S. Bicentennial celebration,” grazing, a home built, and food grown to answer session, he will be available to said Hamberg. sustain the family,” said Hamberg, add- sign copies of his book. While attending the University of ing, “Fences had to be built, and repaired “I have been studying town and local Massachusetts at Amherst, Hamberg when livestock broke through.” history for my entire life and can recall majored in history and continued Hamberg also noted that crops and “The Joseph Moore Story” will be featured Aug. 8, sponsored stories my parents and grandparents researching Southwick in the form of by the Southwick Historical Society at the Southwick History shared with me when I was a little whip- independent study. See Southwick Life, Page 5 Museum on College Highway. (LORI SZEPELAK PHOTO) PAGE 2 - FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2021 WWW.THEWESTFIELDNEWS.COM THE WESTFIELD NEWS Westfield Gas & Electric powers MHA work president of resource development and brand- $3,000 Room to Recover ing for MHA. “The money we receive from sponsorship benefits the state we are very thankful for, but it is very defined, meaning it is to pay for things, ndividuals transitioning like food, the operation of the program, and staff.” from homeless to home She added that unrestricted funding that can be used for any purpose helps a client “who WESTFIELD - For the second consecutive wants to go back to school and needs a laptop year, Westfield Gas & Electric is providing or someone who comes into the program and funds to assist a vulnerable population transi- does not have enough clothes or when it is tion to independent living. time to graduate from the program, they need The company has given $3,000 to sponsor pots and pans and furniture for their indepen- for another 12 months a Room to Recover in dent living situation.” the Mental Health Association’s Westfield- based Safe Haven program. The program “We are beyond grateful for this type of provides temporary housing and a range of funding which, in terms of Room to Recover, services to help individual men and women goes directly to support the individuals who end homelessness. call MHA’s Safe Haven program home,” Lee “WG+E is very pleased to continue our said. sponsorship of a Room to Recover at Safe Lee said the program always has a wait list.