The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has yet to agree on an admissions policy for the state's 29 career technical education high schools.

However, a decision is likely to be announced soon.

Some, including New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, favor a lottery system for selecting students to attend schools such as Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School.

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State House News Service reported supporters of a lottery system believe the criteria used by 25 of the 29 CTE schools, grades, attendance and discipline records from middle school "disproportionately exclude students of color, those who are learning English, have disabilities or come from low-income families."

Others disagree. Several New Bedford City Council members objected to the proposed admission changes, including councilors Ian Abreu, Linda Morad, Maria Giesta, Ryan Pereira and Naomi Carney.

Mitchell told WBSM that a lottery system would be a fairer way to select Voc-Tech students.

During a recent Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting, member Martin West, who led a task force on admissions policies, recently presented the task force's findings.

New New Bedford Voc-Tech Admission Rules Expected Soon
Courtesy GNB Voc-Tech
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SHNS reported West told board members, "We learned that many of the schools, if you compare the composition of their student bodies to the composition of the sending districts, we see that they are quite representative in terms of their racial and ethnic composition and in terms of their protected class, like students with disabilities, English learners and others."

West further stated that schools should have to prove that "selective criteria" are directly tied to the school's success.

The board is expected to discuss the matter further at its February meeting. A recommendation for admission policies could be made at that time.

GNB Voc-Tech and New Bedford High School recently announced an After Dark program that allows NBHS students to receive training in carpentry and plumbing during after-school hours at GNB Voc-Tech.

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