Officials from the 11 communities that send students to Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School celebrated their joint agreement yesterday afternoon with a signing ceremony on the 50-yard line of the school’s football field.
The concept of a shared campus at Northern Essex Community College’s Haverhill site surfaced a year ago after voters in 10 of the 11 sending school communities rejected a $445 million standalone replacement. Only Haverhill voted in favor of building a new school on the current campus at 115 Amesbury Line Road.
In order to pursue state financial support for the combined campus plan, all 11 communities had to agree to bring an application before the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Up until a month ago, Rowley had been a hold out.
Whittier Tech School Superintendent Maureen Lynch welcomed those gathered.
“I can’t tell you how much these signatures mean to me and the entire Whittier Tech community. The students in the building behind us are watching and what they are seeing is real leadership. Yes, we know there will be challenges ahead. But we are choosing to move forward in the best interest of our kids and our regional workforce,” said Lynch.
Then, the group gathered inside, around a conference table to discuss the nitty gritty before them immediately, most notably deciding just how big a school to build.
Lynch noted the state funding process requires the group to come up with a projected enrollment figure by Oct. 30. She anticipates coming up with that figure will be controversial because some communities may favor a larger school to reduce their wait lists, while others may be concerned about the added cost for educating more students. Still others might be concerned about how sending more students to Whittier might impact their own high school enrollments.
Whittier currently serves 1,285 students with 856 from Haverhill. Lynch said at one point during planning for the first replacement plan, officials considered requesting a school sized for 2,100 students. Lynch said, however, the state indicated the maximum enrollment would be only 200 more seats.
Amesbury Mayor Kassandra Gove asked Lynch to provide each community with historical statistics tied to enrollment so that they each had the chance of making an informed decision. Gove suggested not only how many students each community sent to Whittier in the last five to 10 years, but also how many had applied and were rejected would be helpful.
Haverhill Mayor Melinda E. Barrett pointed out that because the college has offered to share vacant classroom and office space, the new Whittier school building should be able to accommodate more students. Haverhill city officials have already indicated they want any new Whittier to have more spaces since the school currently carries a waiting list of some 200 students.
In addition to enrollment projections, the group must create a school building committee by Sept. 30 and outline the types of career and technical programs the school would offer, if different from current offerings.
Northern Essex Community College President Lane A. Glenn told the group a report prepared by MassDevelopment suggested the best use of the current Whittier property, once vacated, would be for multifamily housing.
In general, officials said the combined campus plan is a positive worth pursuing.
“Our communities have undergone a lot of debate these last few years, and so it’s encouraging that the 11 different cities and towns are on the same page and willing to move forward for our Whittier students,” Gove said.