What could best provide Westford Academy students with a break during their busy school days and contribute to a well-rounded education?
Physical education and wellness classes? Additional opportunities to take visual and performance arts courses? Or more freedom when selecting electives?
Westford Public School Committee members had a lengthy discussion on these topics during their Monday, May 12, meeting, which was a continuation of debate about district graduation requirements. A working group created to inform the school committee recommended reducing physical education graduation requirements from 12.5 credits to 10 credits over students’ four years in high school.
These discussions about graduation requirements came out of last year’s budget discussions and the failure of the Town of Westford’s override for increased taxpayer funding of schools, but the concerns of students and families with scheduling is not new, said School Committee Chair Valery Young. She said she has heard these concerns for the five years she has been on the school committee.
Flexibility Concerns
School Committee Member Bill McDonald, who has been vocal in past meetings about keeping requirements for physical education and wellness, said the proposed reduction of 2.5 credits is a 20% cut of instruction time for those subjects.
“I’m a firm believer, right now, that we are rushing headlong into this,” McDonald said. “I am a proponent of a well-rounded, balanced, comprehensive and broad curriculum.”
Newly elected School Committee Member Shana Farnsworth said she agreed with McDonald, adding she would like to see a compromise with “some guidelines or roadblocks.” She mentioned some students might prefer expressing themselves and feel relaxed in an arts course, while others might prefer a wellness activity to cultivate strategies for good mental health.
“Not everybody’s mental health is the same,” Farnsworth said.
She also expressed concerns that too much freedom in elective choice could led to students who feel pressure from their families or place pressure on themselves to load up on academic courses—which could led to them experiencing more stress.
Other policy considerations that were discussed included increasing requirements for performing and visual arts electives to bring the district into alignment with MassCore, a state-recommended, but not mandated program for high school coursework that has the intention of preparing students for college and the workforce.
School Committee Member Laurie Oliver said she is in favor of increasing visual and preforming arts requirements, adding about 80% of WA students already take at least a year of these courses. “Artistic experiences are remembered and taken into the world as possibilities in enrichment in lifetime pursuits as singers, actors, and, just as important, as audience members,” Oliver said.
As the discussion winded down, Young shared her point of view, telling committee members that she views reducing the physical education and wellness requirement by 2.5 credits as the first solution to addressing concerns with rigid schedules.
“My guiding light is flexibility… I don’t worry about academic overload,” Young said.
She emphasized to committee members that “We are the ‘what’ not the ‘how,’” adding school staff would be tasked with implementing changes. Young says she sees other topics discussed as more of a long-game as there is not a pressing need to make changes in the upcoming school year and that she is comfortable that Westford Academy is at 80% of meeting MassCore visual arts performing recommendations, which could be met with an increase to 2.5 total required credits in these subjects over four years.
Other policies related to Westford Academy under consideration which have had more agreement in discussion among committee members are voting in favor of having the school committee perform an annual review of programs, which is the catalog of course offerings at the high school, and allowing students when they are seniors to take an additional study hall, if they prefer.
Young said it was clear school committee members had differing opinions and she expected more discussion at the committee’s May 27 meeting, but felt the committee was on-track for a vote.
Time-out Spaces
In other discussion, the school committee is considering a policy for time-out spaces to establish guidelines to comply with Massachusetts state regulations and ensure all students’ safety, dignity and emotional rights, according to school committee documents.
Time-out spaces are not “calming spaces” that are also used in the school district and often make fidget and sensory tools like headphones, lights and swings available to students, the document states.
The new policy also outlines how time-out spaces should be used only when less restrictive interventions have been attempted and proven ineffective and the notification procedures to parents regarding the use of such spaces.
Time-out spaces have been used in the district and many of the aspects of the policy are already being done.
