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Part 1 of a two-part series examining the admissions effects of the Greater New Bedford Career-Technical High School.
NEW BEDFORD — There’s less than two miles of asphalt between Pinto Garage and Auto Body Shop and the entrance to Greater New Bedford Career-Technical High School. Standing outside that door, longtime owner Gus Pinto Sr. helped a customer into her fixed-up car before heading inside in the February chill.
“I was [affiliated] “For a long time with the school,” Pinto said. “Then I want to hire people.” But in the past five or six years, Pinto said, he hasn’t been able to find the right talent at GNB Voc-Tech.
“We need people who think, not just people who speak for the sake of a voice.”
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Now, a federal complaint filed against the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that says vocational school admissions disproportionately excludes disadvantaged students — such as those with disabilities or English learners — brings more focus to a long-running debate: whether the city’s vocational schools need reform or stand alone. He needs to leave.
Since at least 2017, Mayor John Mitchell’s office has been grappling with arguments that the vocational school is “skimming the cream from the top” or that it often accepts talented students who have little interest in vocational education – job training opportunities, critics say.
Admissions policies don’t just affect schools, they also affect local businesses, he explained.
“I’ve heard from a lot of auto body shops that it’s very difficult to hire students from VOC,” Mitchell said. Not because they don’t train students well, but because they don’t want to stay in the auto body.
“That worries me in this labor shortage,” Mitchell said. “We want people to train with their job needs.”
The Light visited around 12 local auto body shops and collision repair shops last month to find out from business owners.
At Pinto’s Garage & Auto Body, Gus Pinto Sr. He reflected further on his employment interests. “We need people who can do some work,” he said. “Obstructions in fences, paintings, natural objects.
“They don’t spend enough time with the dealers,” Pinto replied when asked how skilled GNB Votech students are in the shop. “A lot of people focus on going to college.”
For 12 years, Pinto said, he has been a member of the vocational school’s advisory committee, where local businesses and community members provide feedback to faculty on their curriculum, equipment and current safety or business trends.
After stepping down from that role, Gus Pinto Jr. — his business partner and son — replaced him on the advisory board.
“Our industry moves quickly,” Pinto Sr. explained. He said his shop has a good relationship with the vocational school. But there is always room for improvement.
At Hathaway Collision Center, owner Bob Hathaway is a 1988 GNB Voc-Tech graduate.
A few years ago, Hathaway said he would never hire candidates from vocational school, preferring those with more work experience. But these days, “any wealth is a good wealth. There’s a hiring squeeze, and “body shops are starving for help,” he said.
Vocational students now work in co-op or “co-op” jobs, and Hathaway said it’s clear some students aren’t looking for a career in the field. Ignorance and lack of experience can be costly.
One recent co-op student, Hathaway said, was hundreds of dollars in extra repairs that damaged the car’s hood. And despite lower wages than an experienced technician, GNB Voc Tech students are more expensive to hire because of these mistakes, expensive insurance and the need for a consulting technician (which means paying two salaries for the same job).
At least one owner said he wants to hire vocational students. John Goncalves, of John Otto Unlimited, was a member of the first class of 1978 to graduate from GNB Voc-Tech’s new campus. He said he works alone these days, but if he needs help he will look to “Perfect.” Technical and vocational training.
While most small businesses say they’ll hire from a vocational school if they’re desperate, which many are, big shops and distributors say they need to look to the school for new talent. David Pacheco, who still manages the service department at a Ford dealership near Hathaway Road, said the local vocational students are “good kids” but “they’re not my first choice.”
Mayors respond to registration issues
Mitchell began advocating for 2020 admissions in an effort to better match the school’s student population to workforce needs.
The mayor sent a letter to the state commissioner and then-Secretary of Education Jeff Wray and James Peyser – at the time – who saw the number of English language learners enrolled at New Bedford High over 1999 at Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech, the same large disparity in the state.
This approach, he said, is a sign of the breakdown of the system that has exacerbated dropout rates in traditional high schools. Mitchell writes that students who drop out “may be more engaged in their academic work than in their careers.”
More than 20 mayors representing Fall River, Lawrence, Quincy and other communities have signed on. Their petition: “DESE should cancel the marks of the applicants.
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But DESE did not take significant action, and nearly all vocational schools in the state continued to use an admissions policy that, at least in part, offered students based on their academic performance, attendance information, disciplinary records, and sometimes a counselor or advisor. Personal advice.
Over the past 10 years, this system has overseen the decline of vocational students whose first language is not English. At the same time, that population doubled in New Bedford Public Schools. Meanwhile, GNB Voc-Tech continues to build a strong reputation for its academics.
Mitchell concluded that the admissions policy “may not be the best thing for Massachusetts school children.”
The head of Voc-Tech urged caution
Michael Watson, the current superintendent and former principal at GNB Vocational Tech, has drawn strong opinions from the federal complaint, which calls for comprehensive admissions reform or the school to stick with its policies. But Watson says he’s moving slowly and carefully.
“I don’t want to be a part of something that creates an unfair outcome for some kids,” Watson said. “Ultimately, I will not be swayed by either political extreme. We let the data guide the conversation. I think most people respect that as a result.
By data, Watson is referring to future admissions results. Next year, about half of first-year students will be admitted through a qualifying lottery system – blind admission for students who meet their academic, academic and discipline scores. The other half is admitted through a ranking system where only the highest performing students in the same category are admitted.
The results of those two “halves” are compared, and then future changes are considered.
According to Watson, this “must be indicative of the fact that we think there may be some validity to some elements. [the federal complainant] We want to take a closer look.
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There is already one significant change: Applicants no longer submit their advisors’ recommendations. “Honestly, we’ve had differences in opinion,” Watson said. His staff, after an initial review of admissions requirements, found that the recommendations tended to disadvantage students from protected classes, such as English learners and students with disabilities.
But Watson has not moved to make more changes based on data previously reported in The Light that protected classes of students are applying and getting into GNB Voc-Tech at a lower cost than their peers.
What happens next?
Watson said he doesn’t think it’s a race: “I want New Bedford High School to be successful.” “Together we will serve to increase economic opportunities for children.”
Watson’s measured approach could take several years to implement, but he declined to give a time frame for how long that might be.
The mayor, for his part, hopes that reform will come voluntarily and soon rather than being mandated because of a federal complaint. “We have to deal with this problem,” he said. “It’s not a problem specific to New Bedford, but it manifests itself here more than any other city in Massachusetts.”
Others, like Ed Lambert, a former Fall River mayor who now represents the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, say the admissions debate should be an opportunity to think about secondary education more broadly.
“In the short term, we have to make sure we have fairness and justice in terms of giving every student the opportunity they need,” Lambert said. “The long-term solution is to rethink the high school experience.” Lambert is introducing a bill to the state legislature that would require students to choose a career “path” and meet with a career counselor.
But those who filed and supported the federal complaint say the problem is not that complicated. State Senator John J.
Cronin said in February, “This is not a shock, this is not an insurmountable problem, this is not going to require billions and billions of dollars to fix. We know the cure.
In New Bedford, the debate has struck a political nerve, and GNB Voc-Tech is still short one school committee member while the City Council refuses to accept mayoral appointees who support admissions reform.
Meanwhile, Gus Pinto, Bob Hathaway and other shop owners continue to need help repairing dents, replacing parts and painting over scratches.
Class 2 Tomorrow: New Bedford High School gets creative to meet career-technical education demand.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
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