Mt. Hope Plans to Cut Homebuilding Project From Curriculum

In addition to the proposed cut of the at Mt. Hope High School, the school also has plans to cut a prominent course in the technology department. The homebuilding elective may not be offered next year, preventing many students involved in the construction program at the school from gaining beneficial experience in the field.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the program, and JoAnn DiGregorio of the Rhode Island Builders Associatio believes it has been one of the most impressive courses in the state within a public high school. The builders association and Mt. Hope have worked together on the program since 2006.

"The experience these students gain by building an entire house is incredible," said DiGregorio. "It's amazing to go onto sites and see these kids who were just seniors, who already have their name on the side of a truck and have their own business."

Over the years, a sustainable non-profit organization was created to allow the program to thrive and succeed. Money made from the sale of a house built by the students would go into a private fund and allow the cycle to continue on to the next year. However, the program hit a road block when a home built in 2005 on Anawamscutt Drive did not sell. Since 2005, the students have not built another house, but have instead used the program as an outlet to do work on pre-existing homes and making repairs for the town.

DiGregorio said she attended a meeting with other representatives and Mt. Hope High School Principal Donald Rebello, where she was allegedly told that there was no money left in the project account to keep it running. However, DiGregorio said that after an audit was done, it was found to be that there was $185,000 left in the account, which she says is enough to keep the program running.

But according to Rebello, school administrators never said that the fund had depleted.

"We never said there was no money left," Rebello said. "There is a Board of Trustees that is still in tact and there is still money that has not been touched or used."

So if the problem is not entirely based on money, then what is it? Rebello says that the homebuilding class did not even run this year due to a lack of student interest.

"As of March 2010, we only had four students sign up for the class," Rebello said. "There were eight to ten kids who would have been qualified to take the course, but elected to do other things. We felt that because it involves two teachers, and three periods of the day, that we could not afford to have the program for only four students."

But previous Mt. Hope students can attest to the benefits of the project, admitting that it was a class that was important to students involved in the technology department. Christopher Lee, a 2005 graduate of Mt. Hope High School and participant in the project, says it will be a sad day to see the program go.

"I got more out of that class than any other class," he said. "It kept me going in school. I wasn't good in English or other classes, but the project forced me to keep my other grades up because we had to maintain a certain GPA to stay in it."

In addition to the experience itself, Lee also attests to his marketability after participating in the program.

"I got a job through the program," Lee said. "Contractors would show up on the job and tell us to call them when we graduated for a job. A lot of people got jobs through that program."

According to DiGregorio, the Rhode Island Builders Association is on board to do "whatever it takes" to keep Mt. Hope's program going.

"We will mentor, we will do field trips, free tickets to the home show, photographing projects they have, whatever they need us to do, that’s our role." DiGregorio said. "Rhode Island is always going to need construction workers, pipe fitters, plumbers, and electricians. We need to focus on not only how can we preserve this program but how can we expand it."

DiGregorio hopes interested students will advocate for the course, preventing the class from being cut. 

Rebello agrees, saying that he would love to see more students show interest in the course and that more interest may give the project a fighting chance.

"We don’t know what last night's budget meeting may have done for the facts and figures for next year," Rebello said, "but yes, if students came forth with strong interest we would have to take that into consideration."

According to DiGregorio, shutting down programs such as the homebuilding project would be a disservice to the students.

"Mt. Hope High School is a comprehensive high school," DiGregorio said. "Every school has literate learners and tactile learners, and if you close down programs like this, you're not serving your high school and it's no longer a comprehensive school."