PEABODY — Some School Committee members aren’t happy that the district’s expansion program at Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School (Essex Tech) has been cut.
They’re also not happy the decision was made without being consulted.
“I am very upset that as a School Committee, we were never notified of that decision,” said committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne. “That bothers me as vocation education is a curriculum decision. We should have at least been able to discuss it and hear whatever (Superintendent Dr. Josh Vadala based his decision on). I’ve been trying to get these facts, but nobody is giving any answers.”
The expansion program allowed students to take core classes in English, math, social studies and science in the morning at Peabody High, then take vocational courses at Essex Tech in the afternoon. Due to high demand for seats at Essex Tech, approximately half of all Peabody students who apply are not accepted according to Dunne. The expansion program provided an alternative for those students.
Program offerings include advanced manufacturing; automotive repair, collision and refinishing; construction craft labor, and sustainable horticulture, none of which are offered in Peabody High’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program.
Dunne, who is Peabody’s Essex Tech representative, said she learned the program had been cut from the grandmother of a student, who had not been accepted to Essex Tech as a freshman. He signed up for the expansion program’s construction course for this fall only to be told the program was eliminated. Vadala told the committee that the student has since been accepted.
“We started this program two years ago to give more kids, like that student, more vocational opportunities,” Dunne said. “Our intention was to grow the program because this was our chance to give them an alternative. I am infuriated.”
Following Vadala’s overview of Peabody’s CTE program, which did not address the reasons why the expansion program (also referred to as the after-dark program) was cut , committee member Andrew Arnotis opened the discussion on why it was eliminated.
“The City Council made some great points in support of the after-dark program the other night (at the June 17 school budget hearing) as to whether there is any new way of maintaining the program,” Arnotis said.
Committee member Joe Amico shared a story about his brother (Sal) whose first co-op job was as a file boy 35 years ago.
“He’s now a general manager at MassPort,” Amico said. “I support any program that puts kids in jobs. President (Joe) Biden is talking about $3-4 trillion in new jobs in roads and construction. For us not to give these kids these opportunities really stinks.”
“I agree with everything Bev and Joe said,” committee member John Olimpio said. “Not everyone goes to college. Without these programs, we have kids with no hope and that breaks my heart. Doing away with this program doesn’t help them and I don’t like that.”
Vadala conceded the program” is a good one (but) we want students to come to our high school and take the programs we offer.”
Councilor-at-Large Jon Turco, who had previously expressed his opposition to cutting the program at the budget hearing, said he strongly disagrees with Vadala’s decision.
“What Dr. Vadala left out is that the program is operated out of Local Laborers 22, which we don’t have in Peabody CTE,” Turco said. “Some kids can come out of Local 22 making good money, up to $100,000 as Mrs. Dunne said. “It’s disingenuous saying we have in Peabody. We don’t. The expansion program does. I’ve reached out to Dr. Vadala to ask why it’s been cut, and I’m not getting any answers.”
Dunne said she attended a press conference held by Gov. Charlie Baker at Essex Tech in April and was stunned when he referred to Peabody’s vocational programs as “forward looking.
“I wondered if he would have said that had he known we had just cut a great program that added more vocational education,” she said. “We have a crisis in vocational education. Gov. Baker said there are 30,000 students in Massachusetts on wait lists. We should be adding programs, not cutting them.”
While Dunne was happy the eighth-grader was accepted to Essex Tech, she is concerned about the fate of others who might not be as fortunate.
“What happens to those kids? They have no options,” she said. “They’re stuck. If they can’t get into Essex Tech, the expansion program was their only path into vocational education and now we have taken that away.”
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].
