Search for The Westfield News Westfield350.comTheThe Westfield WestfieldNews News 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 TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 75 cents $1.00 SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2020 VOL. 89 NO. 203 No. 1 ITI, No. 2 Southwick Regional Batter’s Box district requires advance; teams face coverings for all students meet Sunday By HOPE E. TREMBLAY By CHRIS PUTZ Editor Sports Editor SOUTHWICK – All students in Southwick-Tolland- WESTFIELD – No lead was safe for any of Granville Regional Schools must wear face coverings when Five Guys at Little River Plaza. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD the big boys in Thursday night’s Greater they return to school in-person. NEWS) Westfield Babe Ruth Dan Welch City Cup tour- Masks were previously required for students in grade two nament. No. 2 Batter’s Box caught third-seeded and up, however, the Regional School Committee this past Advance MFG napping early and held on late, week accepted a new policy on face coverings. while the tournament’s top seed, ITI, rallied Five Guys Restaurant Superintendent Jennifer Willard presented the policy from a 6-0 deficit to defeat fourth-seeded which now requires all students in all grades to cover their Westfield Bank 9-7. nose and mouth while in school. No. 1 ITI 9, No. 4 Westfield Bank 7 to add drive-thru “If your child attends Woodland School and this new poli- No. 4 Westfield Bank carried over momen- cy affects your enrollment selection, please reach out to the tum from a first round victory, piling up six By AMY PORTER school by the end of the day on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020,” runs over the first four innings. Staff Writer Willard said. In the first inning, Dacota Durkee singled, WESTFIELD – Near the end of a four-hour meeting on Aug. 18, the “Mask breaks” are incorporated throughout the day accord- stole second base, and scored on a Jacob Planning Board approved a site plan amendment for Five Guys ing to the sample schedules presented to the committee two Wagner RBI single. Wagner scored on an error. Restaurant in Little River Plaza to add a drive-thru window for custom- weeks ago. Teachers will also provide lessons outdoors In the third, Deven Werbiskis reached on an ers. whenever possible, which would present additional opportu- outfield error and Durkee singled. Both runners Robert Levesque of R. Levesque Associates said the Five Guys was nities to remove masks for a short time. scored on a towering triple from Wagner to developed a few years ago and business had been going well, but since Willard also provided a district update based on the enroll- deep right center field. Westfield Bank led 4-0. then the Little River Plaza has been going through ownership changes. ment data recently submitted by families. Information was Westfield Bank increased its lead to 6-0 in The most recent changes with COVID-19 led the owner to contact provided about new metrics from the state, protocols for the fourth. Joey Caldarella walked and Shea Levesque to ask if they could retrofit the building for a drive-thru on the COVID-19 scenarios and extra-curricular activities for the Byrnes reached on an error. A perfect sac-bunt western side of the property next to the Verizon store. fall. from Raymond Vergara advanced the runners. “Right now, Five Guys does not have drive-thru service, and with the Willard said she and Southwick Health Director Tammy Then, a Noah Luis line drive single up the current situation, it’s a very big need,” he said. Spencer are in constant communication and the district com- middle scored both runners, figuratively knock- Levesque said there will be no other major changes to the site plan or munities have continued to be very low when it comes to ing the ITI starter from the mound. Westfield the plaza. The plan calls for the removal of five parking spaces in the positive COVID-19 cases. Currently, Southwick has one Bank threatened to make it more by loading the drive-thru area, and moving the dumpster to the other side. He said they positive resident while Granville and Tolland have no resi- bases in the inning, but reliever Anthony Mello are working with the applicant to get a temporary easement from the dents currently positive for the coronavirus. ended the threat with a ground out, ending the neighboring business during construction. Willard said weekly meetings with Spencer, the School inning. The drive-thru will allow for 12 cars total stacked in a 12-foot wide Committee chair, Southwick Education Association union Westfield Bank appeared to be in the driver’s lane, with six cars in front of the ordering kiosk out front. president, lead nurse and director of curriculum and instruc- seat, but ITI finally arrived and put the brakes The amendment was unanimously approved tion will continue. She said they would look for trends, pat- on an early celebration. The Planning Board also approved a minor change to the site plan for terns or spikes in the district towns as well as surrounding communities. See Teams, Page 6 See Five Guys, Page 3 She said in the case of an uptick in cases, the group would consult with the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education before making a decision to stay open or move to all remote learning. “In the case of significant municipal outbreak, as deter- Pandemic doesn’t hamper couples saying ‘I Do’ mined by the local board of health or DPH, the superinten- By LORI SZEPELAK dent and school leaders must consult with the local board of Correspondent health to determine whether it is appropriate to close a spe- WESTFIELD — Fashion designer Nicole Wzorek cific school, schools, or an entire district. Before a final deci- has weathered the pandemic by making bridal face sion is made on a school or district closure, the superinten- masks and designing dresses for brides who did not dent must consult with DESE for further guidance,” Willard let COVID-19 prevent them from celebrating a said in her presentation. wedding date that has special significance. Willard presented current enrollment numbers and said at “I love being able to work with brides and help Woodland Elementary School, there is a mix of hybrid and them for their special day,” said Wzorek, who fully remote, with a higher percentage of hybrid. At Powder describes herself as a “fashion designer helping Mill School, the majority of students will be attending the women feel beautiful in their own skin.” hybrid model, and at Southwick Regional School, the over- Wzorek, owner of Nicole Wzorek Designs, said whelming majority of students will return to hybrid teaching. her passion is to create a “one-of-a-kind gown” for In grades pre-K – 4, students selecting hybrid will attend a bride. in-person 4-and-a-half days a week, with Wednesdays being “I work with brides by creating a custom made a half-day across the district. Students in grades 5-12 attend- wedding gown or by completing custom alterations ing the hybrid model will attend in-person two days per week for them on a gown they already own,” she said. and learn remotely three days a week. Students with high Wzorek also designs and creates custom lingerie, needs will return fully in-person unless families opt for the Julia Lavigne and Joseph Vasquez exchanged vows on June 13 at fully remote option. See Couples, Page 2 Wyckoff Country Club. (TIFFANY CHAPMAN PHOTOGRAPHY) The full presentation is available at stgrsd.org. Board of Health talks school as COVID-19 numbers remain low By PETER CURRIER In the previous two weeks the Town of She mentioned the new requirement by the guidelines, should the town enter the “moder- Staff Writer Southwick has had 350 COVID-19 tests with Massachusetts Department of Public Health ate” risk stage, students may have to go back SOUTHWICK — The Southwick Board of just one positive result, giving the town a that all school-aged children must receive the to online learning. The moderate risk category Health discussed the upcoming school year positivity rate of just .29 percent. influenza vaccine this year unless they have a means that a city or town has an average of during its remote meeting Aug. 20 as the num- With the beginning of the new school year religious or medical exemption. In addition to 4-8 new daily cases per 100,000 people. ber of COVID-19 infections in the area remain just a few weeks away, Spencer said that she COVID-19, the regular flu season this year is Southwick has a low population of approxi- low. has been in constant contact with the expected to be particularly bad. mately 10,000, so the threshold may be slight- Health Director Tammy Spencer said there Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional Spencer said that she thinks the state is try- ly higher. was just one new confirmed case of COVID- School Department to discuss protocols and to ing to get the message out now to get vacci- As of now, school is expected to begin for 19 in the town, which is its only active case. discuss the weekly COVID-19 risk numbers nated and decrease the number of respiratory in-person learning on Sept. 15. The total number of cases in Southwick is released by the state. illnesses going around at the same time as In Westfield, there were just four new con- now 69.