Thursday, May 23, 2013
A parent began Monday's School Committee meeting with concerns over the presence of rainbow flags in classrooms. What's your take?
During the 2011 Fall Town Meeting, Westford voters shot down a resolution to fly one resident's flag representing the world alongside the U.S. flag due to the symbolic importance that the Stars and Stripes hold. In the vein of that argument, Monday's School Committee meeting began discussing the symbolism of a different flag in Westford's schools. Local parent John Underhill told the board he felt uncomfortable with the presence of rainbow flags in the classroom, best known as symbols for the LGBT community as well as markers against intolerance based on sexual orientation. In his comments to the board, he cited his view that the flags violate his rights as a Westford parent to opt out his children out of any potential sexual education, …
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Earlier this month, Newsweek named Westford Academy as one of the top thousand high schools in America, and now a publication here in the Bay State says its in the Commonwealth's top 100.
After being named as the 187th best high school in America by Newsweek earlier this month, Westford Academy has received another award, this time from a publication closer to home. GoLocalWorcester has named WA as #44 in its Second Annual Massachusetts' Top High Schools list. The website ranked 345 public, charter and and technical schools across the state in a formula developed at Babson College to measure criteria such as test scores, student-teacher ratios, and graduation rates to name a few. Despite the news, Westford fell from 32nd in last year's poll by the company. Other nearby schools on the list included Wilmington (#99), Chelmsford (#90), Groton-Dunstable (#87), Shawsheen Tech (#74), Minuteman Tech (#40), Littleton (#35), …
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Westford Academy gymnasium was filled to the brim with innovative Westford kids and proud parents on Monday.
These are just a few of the great student inventions on hand at the Westford Academy gymnasium on Monday afternoon. If you want to share pictures of your child's great experiment or invention, share it by clicking on the "Upload Photos and Videos" button. Also make sure to check out pictures from the fairs in 2011 and 2012!
Monday, May 13, 2013
The board took at look at recommended changes to the Westford Academy student handbook last week.
The School Committee unanimously approved a set of recommended changes to the Westford Academy student handbook during their meeting last week. Presented by Westford Academy principal James Antonelli and Dean Robert Ware, the change that drew the most discussion was that of not allowing students who are failing two or more classes or who were absent to attend extra-curricular events such as proms or sporting events without administrative approval. Ware and Antonelli told the board they wanted to modify the existing wording in the handbook to provide flexibility for the administration in cases where it may help the student to attend events as well as instances where it wouldn't, also citing that discussions already take place with the …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
For seven years, Peter Cohen has been at the helm of Stony Brook Middle School here in Westford, but this summer he leaves to pursue his doctorate and perhaps a position as a School Superintendent.
Stony Brook parents and students have come to know Principal Peter Cohen over the past seven years, but in just a few short weeks, they will have to say good bye. Cohen will be leaving Stony Brook Middle School at the end of this school year to finish his doctoral dissertation at Boston College with the hopes of potentially moving up to a job as either an Assistant Superintendent or Superintendent, a position he has already sought elsewhere without success so far. Whether he finds another job or not, Cohen says he will focus on his dissertation, which he expects to finish next March. "This has been a terrific experience, its a great school system and fantastic teachers, but what really makes it a terrific system is that the kids are so …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The magazine's 2013 rankings came out Monday.
On mobile? You can see interactive map here. Newsweek has ranked Westford Academy as the #187th high school in the country. For its rankings, Newsweek sent out a survey to more than 5,000 high schools in the U.S., with about 2,500 schools responding in 2013. You can see the details about Westford Academy's ranking, and every other ranked high school by clicking on the markers in the interactive map above. The survey scores were then weighted and calculated using several criteria including on-time graduation and college acceptance rates. In addition, instead of averaging the number of courses offered, this year Newsweek considered the percentage of students enrolled in AP, IB or Advance International Certificate courses. The final scores …
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Westford's got not one, but two elections going on today. We'll be out and about throughout town today with updates from the field.
Final Results Hazelton 1859 Peraner-Sweet 1798 Jarvie 1654 Jefferies 1206 UPDATE 8:41 p.m. - Corrected numbers Hazelton - 1560 Peraner-Sweet - 1425 Jarvie - 1397 Jefferies - 965 UPDATE 8:36 p.m. - Hold on, it looks like we may have been given bad numbers. UPDATE 8:32 p.m. Combined totals (5 of 6 precincts reporting, only waiting on Stony Brook School) Hazelton - 1529 Jarvie - 1427 Peraner-Sweet - 1272 Jefferies - 1118 UPDATE 8:25 p.m. Precinct 4 334 Peraner-Sweet 241 Jefferies 290 Hazelton 249 Jarvie Precinct 6 191 Peraner-Sweet 131 Jefferies 235 Hazelton 236 Jarvie UPDATE 8:22 p.m. Precinct 2 - Blanchard School Jefferies 198 Peraner- Sweet 285 Jarvie 315 Hazelton 345 UPDATE - 8:17 p.m. - Precinct 1 Jefferies 182 Peraner-Sweet 283 …
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Eight-year-old Alan Quan was honored during Monday night's School Committee meeting.
For many folks, overcoming some of life’s obstacles can be daunting at times. But for eight-year old Alan Quan of Westford, there are no obstacles standing in his way. Quan, who is visually impaired, received a Special Recognition Certificate from Westford Public Schools superintendent Bill Olsen at this past Monday’s School Committee Meeting. The Award honored Quan and his first place finish in the 2013 New England Braille Challenge which is put on by the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, MA. The Regional Braille Challenge is a reading and writing competition for students who are in grades one through twelve. Part of the competition included the reading of two passages and then the spelling of forty-five braille spelling words. …
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Local friends of Westford education gathered in Chelmsford to raise money for the Westford Education Foundation
Each year, the Westford Education Foundation invites friends of Westford education to help raise money in their annual fundraising event, better known as the "Big Event" Here are some photos from the the Eighth Annual Big Event earlier this week. If you were there and took any photos, feel free to share them by clicking on the "Upload Photos and Videos" button. More information on the Westford Education Foundation can be found at their website.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
The Friends of the Nashoba Valley Technical High School District will host their first annual golf tournament Saturday, April 27, at Stow Acres Country Club, 58 Randall Road, Stow, with a shotgun start at 1 p.m.
Ann
7:23 pm on Thursday, May 23, 2013
I know the students at Westford Middle Schools right now to be very bright, opinionated kiddos. There are a handful of bullies, but most kids don't like those individuals and don't want to associate with bullies. If someone opted out of an anti-bullying video, I can't imagine that they would be bullied. Bullying is defined as unwanted, aggressive, repetitive behavior which is harmful to the … more ›