By Barbara Morrison
Editor-in-Cheif

The NEASC four-day visit officially ended this Wednesday after the chair of the committee, Joe Maruszczak delivered their initial evaluation of Westford Academy. Overall, Vice Principal Adam Goldberg said that the evaluation was overwhelmingly positive.

“They said that every member of the team would be proud to send their children to WA,” said Goldberg. He went on to say that they spoke positively about the student body and the clear connection between teachers, administrators, and students.

He went on to say that the NEASC committee were pleased to see that every person at Westford Academy, from the students to the school nurses, is a part of the community.

Other administrators echoed Goldberg’s remarks, including superintendent Bill Olsen.

“I think the visiting team was very impressed with the quality of education the students receive at Westford Academy. The daily work and accomplishments of the administration, staff and students are exemplary in my opinion and are a source of great pride to the school system and community,” said Olsen in an email on Thursday.

Goldberg explained that though the formal evaluation from NEASC has a long process to go through before it is finalized and available for the public, Westford Academy will be moving forward on some of the recommendations given by NEASC right away.

Though NEASC was impressed that WA had already implanted school wide rubrics, they recommended more work on these rubrics. They also suggested a greater focus on interdisciplinary learning and suggested time for teachers from different departments to collaborate and plan for interdisciplinary learning.

Along with that came a recommendation for a review of the schedule to ensure that it is best fitting student and teacher needs.
Mostly, according to Goldberg, their feedback was very complimentary with a recommendation to keep on fine-tuning how WA runs. Though, there were two more specific recommendations.

One was for additional technical integration support or, as one teacher put it, more of Stephanie Gosselin. The second suggests that Westford Academy students and their parents should be more actively involved in continuing to craft the mission statement.
“We expected a lot of what we were going to hear,” said Goldberg.

Speaking of the four-day visit as a whole, Goldberg said that watching the school perform so wonderfully and to have all his planning pay off was extremely rewarding.

“It was four days that were filled with incredible pride,” said Goldberg. “I’m kind of sad they’re gone.”

“They never once called WA a good school, they called it a great school,” said Goldberg.

Feedback from staff and students alike was overwhelming positive according to Goldberg.

Goldberg said that Thursday was like a new beginning, his first day at Westford Academy that did not involve planning for NEASC. It seems that not just Westford Academy has recognized his zeal.

“He [Maruszczak] king of jokingly made fun of my countdown,” said Goldberg.

Goldberg says that though the administration will begin working on some of the recommendations from NEASC almost immediately, it is too early to say what their first steps will be. He says, on behalf of the administration, that they are proud of the school community and relieved that the visit went so well and displayed Westford Academy so truthfully.