On Saturday, June 20, the Westford legislative government held its annual town meeting on the Trustees' Field at Westford Academy, discussing specifically the balance of the budget. On the field, seats were arranged so the Westford community could attend the event while still adhering to the Massachusetts'...

Recently at Westford Academy, town budget cuts have found their way into the conversations of students and teachers alike. The term 'Seniority' is defined as the amount of time a teacher has been working in Westford Public Schools by the WPS Teachers Contract as, "The length of continuous employment...

At the Westford School Committee’s February 24 meeting, specific changes were made that will affect students mainly at the elementary level. Superintendent Bill Olsen and assistant superintendent Kerry Clery presented specific cuts to the budget concerning the $400,000 town funds to supplement higher...

Tensions rose high at the Stony Brook School as the Westford community filled the auditorium for the School Committee Meeting to confront the rumors regarding the lack of extension of Superintendent Bill Olsen's contract. Though the Committee had voted 6-1, with Sean Kelly as the sole dissenting opinion,...

On Monday, January 13, the Westford School Committee met to discuss proposed budget cuts in the Latin and English departments, as well as other service reductions. The meeting lasted nearly four hours and featured speakers who would be directly affected by the proposed budget cuts, such as Sarah Bjorkman,...

At the recent town meeting, school committee member Mingquan Zheng articulated that when he needed to learn hundreds of English words for a test, a nearly impossible task, his study of Latin helped him decipher their meanings through the numerous roots, prefixes, and suffixes.  However, the latest...

At the Board of Selectman meeting on December 17, the Board members and Town Manager addressed the budget concerns circulating the town, and they also gave a presentation regarding the reasons for the restricted town budget, its distribution, and the implications. The presentation regarding the town's...

On Monday, December 16, the Westford School Committee met at the Katie Enos Auditorium in Blanchard Middle School to discuss several budget cuts district-wide, as well as findings from the advisory committee regarding shifting start times for all schools K-12. Differing from the meeting last Wednesday,...

At the Westford School Committee’s most recent meeting on December 11, 2019, almost 100 Westford residents gathered at the Millennium School to attend Superintendent Bill Olsen and Assistant Superintendent Kerry Clery’s presentation regarding recent school budget cut proposals. In short, Olsen has...

In the previous installment of this budget series, we discussed some of the how and the why of Westford's school budget crunch. Now we break down the state aid formula, or money the state gives to make sure Massachusetts schools function at a minimum level, and outline all the ways in which it falls...

In the first installment of this budget series, we looked at the immediate effects of the budget cuts and its lack of sustainability for the future. Now we look at how this budget deficit came about, the history of budget balancing in Westford, and where exactly the root of the problem is. Westford...