The possibility of closing five shops at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School is expected to be a top agenda item when members of Whittier Tech School Committee meet Wednesday night. Superintendent Maureen Lynch is scheduled to discuss the potential closing of Early Education and Care, Design and Visual Communications, Engineering, Construction Craft Laborer and Masonry programs. She told WHAV resources committed to the currently declining programs are needed to support plumbing and heating and HVAC. “There’s only so much funding that we have and we have to be good stewards for the taxpayers. I’m trying to take care of my kids and my staff,” Lynch said. Lynch noted her recommendations are subject to approval by the Whittier Tech School Committee and then a closing plan would be reviewed by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Haverhill
Haverhill Citizens Hall of Fame to Induct Poet Frances Cole Lee
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Frances Cole Lee, an accomplished poet who went to Haverhill High School and later wrote hundreds of poems and, takes her place a week from Saturday among other city luminaries in the Haverhill Citizens Hall of Fame. As part of the Haverhill Public Library’s Black History Month activities, Lee will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, established in 1985 and now featuring 46 previous honorees. She was born in Haverhill Oct. 18, 1883 to Benjamin and Annie Cole. According to the Haverhill Citizens Hall of Fame Committee, she developed her poetic skill by studying books she found at the Haverhill Public Library.
Education
Haverhill Public Schools Job Fair Now Planned for Thursday
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A Haverhill Public Schools Job Fair, focused on positions at the Bartlett School and Assessment Center, Gateway Academy and Greenleaf School takes place this Thursday. The fair was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but now takes place Thursday, Feb. 13, from 2:30-5 p.m., at Bartlett School, 551 Washington St., Haverhill. Bartlett School provides services for 40 students with autism or diagnosis, ages 5 to 22; Gateway Academy is an alternative school with up to 45 seventh and eighth grade students and up to 120 high school-aged students; and Greenleaf Academy focuses on middle and high school students in a therapeutic program.
Haverhill
Dempsey to Reclaim ‘Chairman’ Title as he Takes on Haverhill Boys & Girls Club Fundraising
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He is reclaiming his title as “chairman,” but this time may be more significant than his last as far as Haverhill’s children are concerned. Former Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, who served as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has been tapped to help raise money for a new Boys & Girls Club of Greater Haverhill near the intersection of Route 97 and Interstate 495. Dempsey, who left the legislature in 2017, will serve as chairperson of the organization’s upcoming Capital Campaign. As WHAV reported first a year ago, the Boys & Girls Club bid $850,000 for a 6.5-acre state-owned property at 393 Broadway. The Club signed a purchase and sale agreement last April.
Haverhill
Haverhill Welcomes Breakfast Exchange Club Donation of Taxi Vouchers for Seniors
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A donation to the city from the Breakfast Exchange Club will provide taxi vouchers to keep seniors moving this spring. City councilors last week accepted the organization’s donation of $1,500 to the Haverhill Council on Aging for its “Happy Rides” initiative to provide taxi vouchers for city seniors. Mayor Melinda E. Barrett explained how the donation helps. “The Breakfast Exchange Club has come through again with this $1,500 for Happy Rides, which are critically important to some of our older adults that no longer drive, that need rides to appointments to see their doctors and to get to and from different things they need to attend. This will be well used and very much appreciated by the Council on Aging.”
The Club, founded in 1997, aims to support older adults with basic needs and services such as transportation, food and heating assistance.
Community Spotlight
Fifth Annual Haverhill Exchange Club Hometown Heroes Program Accepting 2025 Honorees
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The fifth annual Hometown Heroes program is registering new military honorees to be recognized on 160 banners from Memorial Day through Veterans Day. The tribute banner program, spearheaded by the Haverhill Exchange Club and Haverhill Veterans Services Office, accepts its first in-person registrations Saturdays, Feb. 22 and March 15, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the River Street Café, 558 River St., Haverhill. Banners are $250 each and the deadline to register is April 1. Sponsor families are asked bring a photograph and such military service information as name, branch, rank, years of service, wars or conflicts and medals of distinction.
Business Bulletin
Merrimack Valley Chamber Invites Spring Business Expo, Health and Wellness Fair Exhibitors
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The Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce is signing up exhibitors in advance of its Spring Business Expo, Health and Wellness Fair in April. Exhibitors may take advantage of early bird rates registering by Wednesday, March 12. Registration includes expo admission, exhibit table, advertising, eligibility for raffle and door prizes, breakfast with VIP speaker and after-expo networking. Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Spring Business Expo, Health and Wellness Fair takes place Wednesday, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Michael’s Function Hall, 12 Alpha St., Haverhill. There’s more information at MerrimackValleyChamber.com or by calling 978-686-0900.
Haverhill
To Keep Basiliere Bridge Safe Until Replacement, Work Feb. 14-16 Detours Southbound Traffic
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No southbound traffic over the Pfc. Ralph T. Basiliere Bridge will be allowed Valentine’s Day weekend, but the lane closing is not the start of the 100-year-old structure’s replacement. State transportation officials said Friday Basiliere Bridge traffic over the Merrimack River from Haverhill to Bradford will not be allowed from Friday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m., through Sunday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m. to make repairs to keep the bridge safe until it is replaced.
Haverhill
MeVa Buses to Remain Free Following Study Showing $2 Million Positive Economic Impact
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Taking a Merrimack Valley Transit—or MeVa—bus will remain free for riders after the public authority’s board Thursday compared the small amount of net income from past bus fares with a $2 million boost in regional economic benefit today along with doubling of hospital access and other advantages since fees were eliminated in 2022. MeVa Administrator MeVa Administrator Noah S. Berger told advisory board members a vote for permanent free service now gives riders confidence in having continued access to rides. With an increase in passengers—and a study showing nearly 40% of them making less than $25,000, Berger said riders have expressed concern about having to pay. “Are we going to have to go back to collecting fares—are you going to go back to collecting fares? There was palpable anxiety,” he said during the online meeting.