AVTE conference stresses critical need for vocational training

Educators met with business, community and legislative leaders on June 17 to discuss the critical need for vocational education in Southeastern Massachusetts and throughout the state, at a conference at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School in South Easton. The event was sponsored by the Alliance for Vocational Technical Education, a coalition of Massachusetts organizations that support vocational and technical-career education.

Conference speakers agreed that vocational schools will be essential for providing skilled workers in the future.

“If you look at the big challenges our country faces today – how to reverse a growing opportunity deficit in our education system and how to ensure that American companies grow and thrive – I challenge to you to find a place career/technical education does not play an integral role,” said Congressman Joseph Kennedy III of Massachusetts.

Both academic and business leaders spoke about the different types of jobs that that need to be filled in order to have a successful economy. Dr. Barry Bluestone, a senior research associate for the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, stressed that Massachusetts companies will be producing 380,000 new jobs by 2020, and will also need to replace 780,000 workers who are retiring. He also said that 75 percent of employers prefer to hire graduates from CVTE (Career and Vocational Technical Education) schools for entry-level positions, and 61 percent prefer CVTE grads for higher-level positions.

“We always hear that every person must complete four years of college to get a job – that’s just not true,” he said.

Bob Vozzella, a manufacturing manager at TE Connectivity in Norwood and a graduate of Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, said his company seeks skilled workers in manufacturing, but they are difficult to find. He said that his company has hired 15 workers that have graduated from a post-secondary manufacturing program at Wentworth Institute of Technology, but the company is still not able to fill all the positions.

“We think of equipment as capital, but it is our human capital that we need to invest in. Companies are seeking hands-on, technical training, coupled with classroom work that support these skills,” he said.

School administrators spoke about current and future programs that will expand vocational opportunities in Massachusetts. Superintendent Luis Lopes, from the Southeastern Regional School District, said his district will be partnering with both Brockton High School and three other districts to provide additional vocational training for current high schools students and recent graduates.

The Brockton program will allow Brockton High School students to take either culinary arts or cosmetology classes at Southeastern Technical Institute (STI) in South Easton, after regular school hours, and receive post-secondary training. The program will be expanded to include HVAC, electrical and plumbing in the next year. At the end of the year, the students will have both a high school diploma and a post-secondary certificate from STI. The cost is $2,000 per students, but both districts say they are seeking ways to cover student costs so that the tuitions can be waived.

Southeastern also plans to partner with Bristol-Plymouth and Tri-County districts to provide post-secondary training to high school students in 27 district towns at in-district rates. Districts will be providing the training through new post-secondary programs in electrical, plumbing and manufacturing and in current programs.

Other programs include a partnership between South Shore Vocational Technical High School and North River Collaborative to provide an eight-week after-school program in collision repair, and a partnership between Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School and Stockbridge School of Agriculture (at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst) to provide post-secondary training in agriculture-related subjects.

The conference also featured two vocational students who spoke about the benefits of their educational background. Arlette Dervil, a Brockton resident who grew up in Port Au Prince Haiti, has served as class president at Southeastern and a state officer for SkillsUSA, a nonprofit organization that prepares high school and college students for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. She will be graduating next year from the medical assisting program at Southeastern, and hopes to become a physician’s assistant.

Taylor Mackie, of Mansfield, who graduated from Southeastern in design and visual communications, said her high school education and training will enable her to graduate with little or no debt from Winthrop University, where she is majoring in musical theater and visual design. She said she has earned the tuition money through scholarships and a school job.

“I am now the head-shot photographer and Photoshop technician for the theatre program at my school,” she said.

Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School is a public 9-12 vocational high school located in South Easton, Massachusetts, serving approximately 1,370 students. The Southeastern District serves students from the city of Brockton and the towns of East Bridgewater, Easton, Foxboro, Mansfield, Norton, Sharon, Stoughton, and West Bridgewater.