Community Forums Invite Questions about Westwood Schools Building Project
On Thursday, March 8, 2018 at
9am in the Sheehan School Library and Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 7pm in the Hanlon
School Gym, the Westwood Public Schools will host its first community forums
about the school buildings project. All town residents are invited to attend and
learn more about this extensive and important project. Superintendent of
Schools Emily Parks and Westwood School Committee members will field questions
from attendees. The District has invited Westwood Media Center (formerly
WestCAT) to film the forums for later broadcast.
The forums will come on
the heels of open-house style tours of the Sheehan, Deerfield and Hanlon
Schools. As previously announced, the District is hosting those tours on
Saturday, March 3, from 10:00 a.m. to Noon and Sunday, March 4, from 2:00 to
4:00 p.m. to visibly demonstrate the condition of the schools and the related
impact on educational programs and facility management. Both the tours and the
community forums are part of the District’s commitment to continually engaging
the community in the building project.
Although
well-maintained, the Sheehan, Deerfield and Hanlon Schools date back to the
late 1940s and early 1950s, and need to be modernized. The buildings are not
fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They
lack sufficient and suitable space for programs like art and music; small group
instruction and intervention services. Much of the existing plumbing and HVAC
systems is original and nearing the end of useful life. The District is
determined to make fiscally responsible decisions to transform the schools into
modern places of learning—capable of utilizing new technology and adapting to
new curricula in order to continue providing the highest quality education.
For more information on
the forums and tours, or the overall project, visit www.westwoodschoolbuilding.com.
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