UPDATED: Westfield Public Schools Help Community Amid Coronavirus

[UPDATE: The email address below, for donations, has been corrected to westfieldnjptc@gmail.com]

WESTFIELD, NJ — Staff and students in the Westfield School District are undertaking a number of efforts to assist local families and medical providers, and you can help. They're also bringing cheer to their neighbors with colorful signs, and helping keep the community clean.

Among a number of efforts undertaken by staff in recent weeks, the custodial and maintenance crews from the district’s Department of Buildings and Grounds have been working with the town's Department of Public Works to disinfect municipal offices, police squad cars, fire stations, and other town equipment and facilities.

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“We also donated a case of nitrile medical gloves and a case of masks that we had in the school district,” said Sean McArthur, district supervisor of buildings and grounds. “I cannot tell you how much we appreciate what all of the Westfield emergency services are doing to keep us safe in the community on an everyday basis, but especially now in our time of crisis.”

Also, District Coordinator of Health Services Carole Stavitski and her nursing staff arranged for 100 boxes of medical gloves to be delivered to an area hospital. Stavitski had ordered the gloves and other supplies as the COVID-19 infection began to spread. With most of these supplies in huge demand and backordered, only the gloves arrived. The shipment was delivered to the high school on the last day before schools closed for remote learning.

“With the help of Westfield High School head custodian Werner Wolf, Roosevelt Intermediate School nurse Sharon Dorry and her daughter were able to load their car and deliver 10,000 gloves to the hospital,” said Stavitski.

Robert Ripper, a member of the high school nursing team, is organizing a drive to collect extra thermometers in good working order to send to healthcare providers.

Ripper asked families willing to donate an extra thermometer to seal it in a plastic bag and place the bag in a box outside of his home at 779 Hancock St. in Westfield.

His wife, who is an emergency room physician at a hospital in Newark, will disinfect the thermometers before distributing them to healthcare workers.

Then, there are simple, uplifting gestures, like elementary principals enlisting families to “brighten up our neighborhoods and our spirits” with the Rainbow Project, which invited students to create a colorful rainbow and place it on a front door or window with the message “Everything is going to be OK!”

And WHS math teacher Callie Campbell who had a daily classroom ritual of telling a math joke (see photo).

“Once we shifted to online learning, my students were still reaching out, asking for the daily joke,” said the Westfield native.

Campbell expanded the idea and now posts both a math joke and puzzle in the windows of her Westfield home for passersby.

“I hope the math joke and puzzle bring a smile or chuckle to people in this time of uncertainty while also serving as a fun learning for people of all ages," she said.

The Westfield Parent Teacher Council (PTC) has set up a fundraiser on Facebook to assist local families in buying food and household items. All money raised will be distributed in the form of local grocery store gift cards; families are asked to donate to this link: https://bit.ly/ptcfundraiserforfamilies. Please reach out with any questions to [corrected from earlier:] westfieldnjptc@gmail.com.

“There are so many unsung heroes in our school district, including staff members, students and families who put aside their own worries to extend a hand to others with greater responsibilities and concerns,” said Superintendent Dr. Margaret Dolan. “Of course, our educators are everyday heroes as they work to provide not only meaningful remote instruction but to also connect with each of their students in a reassuring way during this isolating time.”

Dolan points to these examples as just a few of the ways the Westfield school community is helping the broader community. “It is truly inspiring, but not surprising,” she added. “I am grateful for and proud of the resilience and kindness our entire school community has demonstrated during this trying time.”

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