Idea #373 – Explore Career Vocational and Technical Education Options

Report Status: Fully Reviewed

Researched by: Aaron Pikcilingis

Original Idea as Submitted

Explore regional vocational and technical education options

Other ideas included in this report

  • 347 - Provide better vocational/technical options

Idea intent

Since leaving the Minuteman Tech regional school district Belmont’s students have been left with uncertain options for vocational/technical education. This idea suggests that we explore the current options and identify potential alternatives.

Weighted Final Score: 27 (Financial Impact: 0, Operational Impact: 4, Time Scale: 2, Ease of Implementation: 2)

Background Information

Students from Belmont seeking Career, Vocational and Technical Education (CVTE) options work with the School Department to identify where they can apply, typically in 8th grade. Access to slots at Minuteman are now limited – for the ‘21-‘22 school year, eight incoming 9th graders applied and one was accepted. At least two families moved to other Minuteman member district towns specifically to get access to the Minuteman programs.

For more detail on Belmont’s decision to leave the Minuteman District, please see Idea #177: Withdraw from the Minuteman Regional District.

To provide these students with opportunities, the school department maintains relationships with Medford Vocational Technical High School and Cambridge Rindge School of Technical Arts.

For ‘21’-22, across grades 9-12 there are 37 total Belmont students at Minuteman (29 of whom are in grades 11 or 12, having enrolled before Belmont left the district), and five are enrolled in Medford’s program (all 9th and 10th graders). Due to increased demand for space from its own residents, no students from Belmont are currently enrolled in Cambridge’s program.

The number of incoming 9th grade students expressing interest in CVTE was lower than usual this year, perhaps due in part to the excitement of the new Belmont 9-12 building opening, but the expectation is that demand will return to higher levels in the future, aligning with a regional trend of increased demand for CVTE.

Recommendations

  • The consequence of leaving the Minuteman district has left some students and their families without access to suitable alternatives for vocational and technical education. The town should continue working to strengthen and perhaps formalize our existing agreements with other nearby CVTE options and continue to seek out additional options to service Belmont students interested in CVTE.

  • One key problem with Minuteman was the funding structure for in-district communities, and this problem’s root is at the state level. To fix this problem and give more students access to vocational/technical education opportunities, the town or its representatives at the state level might advocate for changes to vocational and technical education districting, funding, and tuition policies, work to reform the Minuteman district.

  • The number of Belmont rising 9th graders applying to CVTE programs is somewhat lower than in the past, perhaps because of the newly opened Belmont High School. The new school offers some programs that may meet some of the interests of students who may otherwise have applied to dedicated CVTE programs. With this in mind, Belmont may be able to meet the needs or more students by expanding the programming offered at BHS to include more courses like robotics, programming, engineering, and the like. Such an expansion might also reduce the number of students who feel like BHS isn’t a fit for them, leaving more space in dedicated programs available for those for whom BHS is truly not a fit.

Next Steps

  • The School Department to continue maintaining and building our existing relationships and agreements with nearby options for CVTE, including Minuteman.

  • The School Department should seek out additional CVTE options for Belmont Students.

  • The Town should monitor for potential state-level reforms to regional CVTE districts and ask our State Representative and State Senator to advocate for those reforms.

  • The School Committee and School Department should assess the possibility of expanding course offerings that may meet the needs & interests of some Belmont students who are not able to access dedicated CVTE programs.

Further Reading