Schools

A Message from Westfield Schools Superintendent

SATS canceled for Saturday, Nov. 3. If schools have power, they will open Monday.

With the Westfield Public School district’s e-mail and web servers down, we have relied on our emergency alert system to provide information to parents this week through a half dozen different messages. We also appreciate the Mayor including our messages in his announcements. As soon as power is restored, we will begin work to reestablish our usual methods of communication.

And, as soon as power is restored, we are ready to open our doors and welcome our students back. Our maintenance workers and custodians have been working since Tuesday to prepare our schools. They have taken down trees and limbs and removed debris from all of our grounds. While our schools did sustain some minor damage, our staff has made necessary repairs.

We will send another alert to confirm, but if our schools have power we will open on Monday morning. As indicated in a previous alert,we will be open for school this Thursday and Friday, November 8 and 9. This means that, assuming power, our students in grades 6-12 will have 5 full days of school next week. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade will have four day sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as had been planned to provide for parent conferences.

As is the case in districts across New Jersey and New York, SATs are cancelled for this Saturday, November 3. We are working to reschedule these tests and will notify students who have registered.

There are many events, such as plays and games and competitions that will have to be rescheduled. We will begin that work once we have our students back learning in their classrooms.

I am sure that our students and parents have many more questions but would ask for some patience as we all deal with the aftermath of a devastating storm. As we have traveled around Westfield this week to check on our buildings, we have heard a wide array of stories from our families. Some have sustained major damage to their homes and are just glad that family members are safe. Many families continue to be without power, yet have welcomed family and friends who have lost everything. One lucky family who had never lost power turned their attention to elderly neighbors and cleared debris from a number of lawns. In the months to come we will have to continue our efforts to help many members of our community. This is the spirit of cooperation we see so often in the Westfield community.

Thank you for your cooperation and I wish you well at this difficult time.

Sincerely,

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Margaret Dolan
Superintendent of the Westfield Public Schools


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