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Bond funding offers advantages over the annual budget.
The bond referendum addresses widespread improvements to continue the unwavering commitment to maintaining safe, sustainable, and future-ready schools.
Bond Funding is used to:
Finance large-scale infrastructure projects, similar to the way a homeowner uses a loan to pay for renovations or additions.
Enable Westfield to use state debt service aid toward a portion of the costs. That’s a leading reason to address these needs outside of the annual operating budget.
The State of New Jersey has committed up to $57.5 million dollars in this debt service aid for Westfield.
Improvements will address building and space needs.
This comprehensive plan stemmed from needs identified across the district. Some directly impact the operating budget, and others more significantly support the educational program. They can be divided into “building” and “space” needs, but they truly overlap.
Old heating systems are building needs, but repair bills re-direct funds that could be spent more directly on instruction.
More classroom space is needed to support rising elementary-level enrollment, to allow the expansion to full day kindergarten, and to help struggling students keep up.
A steady list of daily demands has pushed some long-term improvements to the back burner, such as Westfield High School’s Auditorium and Wood Shop.
Examples of Building Needs
Examples of Building Needs
HVAC upgrades would save money.
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC): Many classrooms rely on “unit ventilators” (univents) to pull in fresh air and heat it as needed. Some are 70 years old, and age has made them inefficient. The same is true for window air conditioning units. They are not as efficient at cooling a classroom as modern unit ventilator systems. Their advantage is a cheaper up-front cost; another downfall is a shorter lifespan.
New univents will efficiently heat and cool classrooms, eliminating the need for window AC units. In addition to replacing them, the new univents will be connected to building-wide management systems.
The approved referendum also adds air conditioning where that climate control does not exist in gyms, cafeterias and kitchens in the Intermediate and High Schools.
Bond funding is the most economical way to afford HVAC improvements. A bond budget qualifies for about one-third of HVAC costs to be covered by state debt service aid.
Restrooms have old plumbing and ventilation systems, and cramped designs that limit accessibility.
Renovate existing spaces to meet modern needs.
Restrooms: Student restrooms will be renovated. More than improving the “look,” these upgrades will improve plumbing, electrical systems and functionality – including accessibility for people who have mobility challenges.
Safety and Accessibility: School offices located in the core of the building or on an upper level present challenges to safety and accessibility. Reconfiguration is an opportunity to continue enhancing safety measures and leveraging the frontline security screens the district has embraced.
Support Services: WPS is de-centralizing its Support Services – moving some staff members from the district administration building to individual schools. Time for travel is turning into time on task, but only when there is adequate space to work with students.
Technology: Every renovation will be an opportunity to upgrade technology, such as incorporating Wi-Fi access and charging stations in media centers and the Westfield High School auditorium.
Examples of Instructional Space Needs
Examples of Instructional Space Needs
Added instructional space will meet current and future needs.
Full Day Kindergarten: More time for kindergarten is recognized as valuable for students’ academic outcomes and social development. As the number of school districts without it shrinks, they may become islands in the real estate market.
Individualized Instruction: As times change, space needs change. There is no better example than gym locker rooms with shower stalls and changing areas. Neither are used by students. Additionally, WPS is like other districts across the country that are pressed to find rooms to accommodate the increasing need for individualized instruction. This underutilized space will be converted for this purpose.
To carve out space, many classrooms and former offices are sub-divided by bookshelves and soft walls to be used for individualized instruction.
Neighborhood Schools
WPS is strongly committed to its neighborhood schools: Keeping students near their homes and with their Westfield peers.
The plan for full day kindergarten aligns with that commitment by moving kindergarten out of the Lincoln Early Childhood Learning Center and into the six elementary schools. Students would start kindergarten at the same schools where they would learn for six years, rather than switching schools to start first grade.
Establishing proper learning environments for students with special needs aligns with that commitment, too. When new classrooms were created at Roosevelt Intermediate School, WPS saw fewer families choose to send students to other districts. The approach kept students with their peers at neighborhood schools; it also saved costs of tuition and transportation.
New housing means more students, and the increase is not projected to be even across grades or spread out geographically. More space would reduce the need to adjust attendance boundaries.
Bookshelves and soft walls divide classrooms for small-group instruction, but do little to screen out noise and other distractions.
The WHS Auditorium will gain new seating, electrical, lighting and sound upgrades.
High School Auditorium
The High School Auditorium is a community gathering point. Beyond use by students, this Auditorium welcomes visitors for events including theater performances, music concerts, school assemblies, end-of-year award ceremonies, some elementary and intermediate events and PTO gatherings. It will better serve guests with modernized seating, electrical, lighting and sound systems and with modernized restrooms.
Additional Multi-Purpose Rooms at Franklin and Jefferson Elementary Schools will meet the needs of higher enrollment with flexible space.
Multi-Purpose Rooms
Each busy elementary school makes full use of a Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) that alternatively serves as gym, cafeteria, auditorium and/or assembly hall. In some, instrumental music lessons take place behind the stage curtain while physical education classes make noise on the other side. At Franklin and Jefferson, the district's largest schools, an additional multi-purpose room will be added to address space needs.
Book-based media centers can be reconfigured for more multi-media collaboration.
Media Centers at IS and HS
Built as libraries, these areas were designed to store books and provide quiet areas for reading. Those features are still needed, and a reconfigured media center will offer that plus a collaborative learning environment for group projects. Classes will be able to make use of the reconfigured space.
Art and music instruction shifts to mobile carts when space is tight.
Art and Music
As demands for instructional space increase, it becomes harder to dedicate rooms for art and music. These are the programs most likely to be pushed out of elementary classrooms and onto traveling carts. Additional classrooms will reduce the impact of this lack of space on these programs.
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