By Dan Rizzo, Candidate for Mayor
We need to realign the Revere High School curriculum and prioritize space in our proposed new high school for both academic as well as career and vocational technical education programs.
Massachusetts has more than two-dozen vocational technical public schools serving 38,282 students, but these schools have far too few available slots to accommodate the thousands of students seeking admission into their programs.
The Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational School (vocational school) which serves Revere and eleven other cities and towns presently admits only 330 ninth grade students each year into their vocational education programs.
This academic year, of the 454 Revere eighth graders, scheduled to become freshman at Revere High School, 310, sixty-eight percent, chose to submit applications to the regional vocational school and sadly, only 73 Revere students were admitted into the freshmen class of the vocational school.
Based upon these remarkable statistics, it appears that Revere’s high school age students prefer vocational/technical education programs that will prepare them for immediate career opportunities, rather than traditional academic focused programs that prepare them for college.
If there were ever a moment for more career and vocational/technical education programs at Revere High School, this is the time. Employers from across the state, from Boston’s world-famous hospitals, to life sciences, biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, all around Greater Boston, to aviation transportation facilities at Logan Airport, to the MBTA, all report trouble finding qualified workers. And there are bigger workforce challenges looming. Massachusetts needs workers to fill all of these high paying positions.
Clearly, the statistics relative to the number of Revere’s eighth grade students that submitted applications for admission to our vocational school, provides Revere’s educational policy makers with valuable information to immediately consider realignment of the Revere High School curriculum by prioritizing space in the proposed new high school to include academic, as well as, career vocational/technical education programs. This will assist our students in competing for Greater Boston’s high paying workforce positions.
The Minuteman High School in Lexington is an excellent model for Revere to consider- they integrate both academic and vocational/technical learning programs where the career programs overlap with academic classes. Students would graduate high school with industry-recognized certificates and licenses; whether or not the student decides to pursue a career or college, they will have a strong competitive advantage.
The next Mayor, the Revere School Committee, the Superintendent of Schools, and the Revere High School Building Committee should not miss this moment in time to work together to realign the Revere High School curriculum and provide the necessary space in the new high school to meet the needs of our student population.
Dan Rizzo is a Councillor-at-Large, as well as a candidate for Mayor in the upcoming election.
