School-community ties among Westhampton Elementary's priorities

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

WESTHAMPTON - Students returning to Westhampton Elementary School can look forward to greeting a new third-grade teacher and being part of the school's effort to become more community-focused.

Hampshire Regional Superintendent Craig Jergenson said the 2010 school year will continue toward the school's goal of promoting literacy across the curriculum and breaking down the barriers that divide family life from the classroom to promote learning beyond school hours.

"We have been working really hard to look at how we put together tiered instruction in regards to reading," Jergenson said. "We are trying to find the best methodology for improving our school and ensuring that we have truly meaningful literacy instruction."

Weekly community meetings in the school's common room, Jergenson said, allow him to gauge what his students and their parents consider educational priorities.

A new teacher, Sarah Moylan, of Easthampton, will join the school as a fifth-grade teacher after spending the last five years teaching third grade at Frederick Harris School in Springfield. Moylan recently obtained her master's degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

One of the major draws of coming to Westhampton, Moylan said, was the town's tight-knit community."It seems like a town that is very close and all about the kids," Moylan said. "I really like how invested everybody seems."

"I've met people in the past who have taught at this school for 20 years and had nothing but good things to say about it," Moylan said. "Teachers seem to stay at the school for a very long time, which shows that they take good care of their teachers."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.