View part 1 of this series of blog posts here!
The July 20th, 2022 School Committee Meeting
On the agenda for the July 20th, 2022 School Committee meeting was a “Presentation and Discussion on Steps Needed to Make Taconic High School a Full Vocational School for the 2023-2024 School Year” (timestamp 1:30:00 – 2:42:56).
This presentation by Taconic Principal Matthew Bishop, Assistant Superintendent for College and Career Readiness Tammy Gage, and then Pittsfield High Principal Henry Duval covered the following points (note that this information was accurate as of July of 2022):
- In the old residence model for determining what high school middle school students went to in the Pittsfield Public Schools, Reid students would go to Taconic and Herberg Students would go to PHS;
- District administration is proposing starting in the fall of 2023 that Taconic only accepts students who are planning on being a part of the school’s CTE program, so that by the fall of 2026 the student body is fully vocational;
- In the 2021-2022 school year the inter-district transfer requests were eliminated for all CTE applications, so there is only 1 CTE application a student needs to fill out;
- Taconic is starting to run out of capacity to serve all students who want to be a part of a CTE program, including students who would otherwise go to Taconic;
- There is enough student demand to support Taconic being a fully vocational school;
- There have been a lot of issues trying to accommodate CTE and non-CTE students at Taconic and allowing CTE students to take certain courses such as Advanced Placement courses;
- CTE is an “extremely academic” program and does have the same rigor as non-CTE programs and does prepare students for college, if they so choose to go to college after high school;
- If Taconic stays a comprehensive high school offering both CTE and non-CTE programs, then in a couple of years the school is going to have to turn away non-resident students from the CTE program, which would result in the district loosing Non-Resident Tuition funds from those students;
- The district is estimating based on current trends that 40-60 Reid students that are not in a CTE program would go over to PHS;
- PHS administration is revamping PHS so that there are more scheduling choices for students over there compared to Taconic, continue to have the most Advanced Placement options in the county, create clusters/pathways to support students who are not college bound which will be in place in the fall of 2023, and to fill in areas Taconic isn’t covering with vocational programming (ex. fine arts, computer programming);
- The proposal of transitioning Taconic to a fully vocational school will ensure that PHS’s and Taconic’s enrollments are more balanced and to prevent Taconic from being overenrolled and PHS being under-enrolled;
- There will be further discussions with stakeholders including parents and students before a decision is made by the Pittsfield School Committee;
- “Two High Schools – One Focus”
After then presentation the School Committee then had a preliminary discussion surrounding Taconic’s transition to a fully vocational school. Ms. McGee asked if 10th graders enrolled at PHS would have the opportunity to enroll into a CTE program at Taconic. Mrs. Gage said that is the case if there is enough space in the student’s program of choice as 9th graders have priority over 10th graders when selecting a program. If there is space left over the 10th graders can apply to be in a program with priority ranked by application date. Ms. McGee then went on to comment that this should be an opportunity to draw in students that are developing a philosophy that school isn’t for them, and by offering a strong CTE program the district is really expanding outreach to those students and to help support them.
Dr. Smith wanted to make sure that students are selecting a CTE program based on what they are interested in taking, not because “their friends are in it”. She also asked if a student is not actually interested in their program or cluster, are they taking a spot from someone else. Mrs. Gage responded yes they are taking a spot from someone else as the state mandates a limit on the capacity of each CTE program. She also mentioned that students have until the end of quarter 1 of their 10th grade year to change their CTE program as long as there is space. She also mentioned that the career exploratory component is beneficial in allowing students to discover what they are truly interested in, and that the district is providing a lot of outreach in the middle schools in regards to the CTE program and its offerings.
Ms. Hathaway commented on an encounter she had one time with a Taconic student who was excited to go to school so that he can “weld stuff”, and believes that the CTE program is “so exciting for Pittsfield”.
Mr. Elias brought up a couple of points. First, he asked if a student enters Taconic and realizes that a CTE program is not for them, what happens then. Mr. Duval responded that any student who drops out of the CTE program would then transfer over to PHS or another school depending on the choice of the family. He added that the district is still figuring out when this process would take place for a particular student looking to drop out of their CTE program, as the answer would be different if a student decided to drop out in November compared to March.
Mr. Elias then commented on how he likes the focus on non-college students at PHS as well as programs for college bound students such as dual enrollment, and he hopes to see school choice into Pittsfield expanded with PHS. But he said that the school committee and district ought to look at the physical plant at PHS as it is turning parents away and PHS’s potential is “handcuffed” until that piece is addressed, which he thinks is long overdue. Superintendent Curtis pointed out that as a part of the restructuring study that there will be a full analysis of PHS for physical plant recommendations, and that the study and the School Building Needs Commission will have to consider whether or not to prioritize PHS or the open concept elementary schools for potential renovations. Curtis also did note that the Massachusetts School Building Authority has open concept classrooms low on its priority list for prioritizing statements of interests. Curtis also mentioned that this presentation is that a bunch of polices will be revied relating to transportation and attendance districts, and that he has reached out to legal counsel regarding the committee’s redistricting policy and if this change with Taconic would be considered redistricting.
Dr. Cameron brought up a few points. First, he asked if there is a plan to have public meetings about this change as it affects pretty much all families with high school students. Superintendent Curtis said that is “every intention” to do so, including hosting meetings at several locations within the community face to face. Mrs. Gage said there is much to consider with this proposal as it does affect all students, and it also gives the district an opportunity to go over the CTE program and to dispel common myths about it.
Dr. Cameron then asked if there is a timetable for completing this process so that the School Committee can vote on the proposal. Mrs. Gage said that everything has been scheduled out for the entire school year. Superintendent Curtis added on that all of the policy considerations will be discussed in the fall with the School Committee so that starting in January or February the district can provide “strong messaging” regarding Taconic transitioning to a fully vocational school when students are starting to register for high school.
Dr. Cameron then asked how Taconic is going to provide “adequate programming” to the non-CTE population at Taconic while Taconic is transitioning to a fully vocational school, alluding to that there would be “2 schools in the same building” and that the non-CTE population would be equivalent to academic programming sizes in Southern Berkshire and BART. Dr. Bishop responded that this is a very good question and that it will be an issue that gets worse as the years go on and the non-CTE population starts to dwindle. He alluded to Dr. Cameron’s comments about running 2 schools in the same building as Taconic is currently running the equivalent of 3 schools in the same building with 3 different master schedules (9th and 10th grade CTE, 11th and 12th grade CTE, and non-CTE), and pointed out there are inefficiencies with that. However he said that he thinks that Taconic “will be able to carry that cohort through and do a decent job at it, but we are trying to be a jack of all trades” and that “we will get through it but it is not sustainable”.
Dr. Cameron then asked if the district has looked at enrollment trend projections for the next 5-9 years in regards to this decision. Mrs. Gage responded that the population data from the census wasn’t great news, but there have been some serious positive trends for Pittsfield and Berkshire County, primarily a big change in the housing market. She added on that the district is not at the point of combining Taconic and PHS into one school, and has hopes to never be at that point. Superintendent Curtis added on saying that the district did do a “back of the napkin sketch” a few years ago on enrollment trends, and discussed how the restructuring study will give the district a better forecasting of enrollment trends moving into the future. Dr. Cameron then pointed out that the projected trends from the regional planning commission have been “uncannily accurate” in projecting trends, though he is unsure if those projections are broken down by community.
Dr. Cameron then brought back his proposal of implementing an International Baccalaureate program in Pittsfield as there is no program between Springfield and Albany, and it could attract students to the district. He says that the district has the money now to implement training for the IB program, and the program can also extend down to the middle schools to attract students there. Deputy Superintendent Mendonsa brought up that she talked to Curriculum Director Judy Rush about it and will be looking at putting the proposal into the middle school redesign project as a consideration to be implemented.
Mr. Elias added on that at PHS there is a real opportunity to grow the space and to expand school choice. He has no doubt that there will be success “in a big way” at Taconic, but his doubt lies with Pittsfield High School and the issues with its physical plant.
Check out Part 3 for the rest of the coverage of Taconic’s transition to a fully vocational school!