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The Engineering shop was spared, while Construction Craft Laborer will merge into a revised Masonry program and three other shops will eventually close following Wednesday night’s vote by the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School Committee.
Early Education and Care and Design and Visual Communications will close in 2027 after the few remaining students in the program graduate, pending approval from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Superintendent Maureen Lynch argued closing or changes in programs with declining enrollment are necessary so that resources can be targeted to growth areas.
“There is a significant need for education teachers and early education teachers, there’s no denying that part. The issue really is having less than 10 students run in the trade area when I have other trade areas that really need those resources,” Lynch said.
In Early Education and Care, she explained, only 11 students remain enrolled in the program, with one freshman who chose it last year, marking an approximately 66% decline in enrollment since 2022. A similar trend can be seen with Digital and Visual Communications, with total enrollment down to 26 students from 59 students in 2022. The Construction Craft Laborer program will be kept as an introductory program as administrators work to merge it with the Masonry program.
The majority of Committee members agreed.
Engineering was saved after members, including Committee Chairman Scott W. Wood Jr., noted enrollment there has remained relatively stable between 21 and 27 students since 2022.
“Engineering is a field that is in demand and a well-paying job that people need to enter that field, there’s certainly a shortage in the workplace of people entering that field,” committee Chairman Scott Wood said. “I’m trying to figure out what your thought process was around that, knowing that the numbers have been fairly consistent. There’s not a drastic drop off like the others. It is something where the workforce is looking for people to go in that field.
Lynch said students who take Engineering use it as preparation for college, and the school could consolidate programs such as Electronics and Robotics to use the school’s resources “in a better way.”
The vote to keep the Engineering program was met by applause by several attendees. Among those was said Katie Staunton, an English teacher and the president of the Whittier Regional Education Association that represents more than 120 school employees.
During a public comment segment, Staunton described the proposed changes as “mandatory subjects of bargaining” and read a Demand to Bargain letter the union sent to the School Committee earlier. The letter outlined the union’s expectation no changes be implemented without negotiating as the law requires.
“One of the things that I have noticed while being in the role as union president is a lack of clear transparency and in a lot of decisions that are made at the school level, the teacher perspective is not considered,” she said.
Students in impacted programs may still graduate within the shop, but incoming eighth graders will be unable to explore affected shops.