New director named for Lynn Tech

LYNN – Superintendent Catherine Latham said she is pleased to announce Diane M. Paradis will be James Ridley’s successor as director of Lynn Vocational Technical Institute.”I’m thrilled to have her here,” Latham said. “She has a wealth of experience in vocational technical education and I am really excited about the future for Lynn Vocational Technical with her at the helm.”Paradis, who will begin her tenure on July 1, is trained as a biology teacher with a chemistry and applied physics background. She has more than 25 years of experience in vocational/technical education and is currently the career and technical education coordinator at Cambridge Rindge School of Technical Arts. She said she enjoys working in a vocational educational setting because, “it’s real.””I really do belong in vocational education and I have been in a vocational system since 1999,” Paradis said. “I’ve been in traditional academic high schools that don’t have a vocational component to them. I am always drawn back to the vocational schools. I think it was just meant to be and I think the position is made for me. I am really looking forward to it.”Paradis said teaching is all about the kids and “watching them grow in their skills and watching them grow as individuals.” She said vocational students are offered the best of all worlds because they are able to learn a trade to go into the work force and are still able to attend college if that is the path they choose. Paradis is hoping to bring a number of qualities and possibilities to LVTI.”I am hoping to bring a sense of achievement and accomplishment,” she said. “I know it is there and it just hasn’t been shouted out from their hilltop yet. I see a lot of potential and I think it just needs some guidance and direction to make it really shine. I see a lot of things that can happen, better than they are already happening now. I am looking forward to watching it bloom.”She said the staff she has met is very hardworking and very dedicated.”I am looking forward to working with them, to having them forge new unions with departments maybe they haven’t thought of working or integrating with before, taking on some of the challenges of the (Department of Education) and making them a school-wide challenge,” Paradis said. “All of what happens academically is reflected upon what we do technically and I am looking for that bond to join everyone together so that everyone works well together. That is what I am looking for and I am hoping to see that happen. I think it will.”