Everett High School will receive $1,014,000 from the state to renovate and expand its medical assisting and programming and web development programs, adding about 95 seats and a clinical simulation laboratory. Governor Maura Healey announced the award on Wednesday, October 21 in Fitchburg as part of $14.5 million in grants to six high schools under the new Career and Technical Education Annex Pilot Program.
The two programs are Chapter 74 vocational programs inside the comprehensive high school. According to the governor’s office, the money pays for renovated instructional spaces, the new simulation lab and upgraded technology, and will raise their combined capacity from 105 students to 200. The program is funded by the Fair Share surtax on incomes over $1 million, and projects are expected to be finished by June 2028.
What the district said
“We thank Governor Healey and the Executive Office of Education for making this significant investment in CTE education,” Superintendent William Hart said in the district’s announcement. “We will use these resources to expose our students to the cutting-edge technology and hands-on experiences that lead to high-quality postsecondary and employment opportunities.” Director of Career and Technical Education Siobhan Araya and medical assisting instructors Desirae Peary and Lisa Eford attended the announcement, the Everett Independent reported.
Hart had tipped the award two nights earlier. At the School Committee’s October 19 meeting, which featured an hourlong presentation by the carpentry program, he said he was under embargo but had taken a call from the education secretary’s office telling him Everett had won more than a million dollars for CTE space. That meeting is covered in our School Committee story.
The six schools
Everett’s award is the fifth largest of the six. The full list from the governor’s office:
- Fitchburg High School, $3,500,000, a new culinary arts program with a student-run cafe, in partnership with Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School
- Haverhill High School, $3,210,056, health assisting and information technology expansion, about 140 seats
- Newburyport High School, $3,101,500, advanced manufacturing and health assisting
- Watertown High School, $3,000,000, new carpentry and electrical programs
- Everett High School, $1,014,000, medical assisting and programming and web development, about 95 seats
- North Middlesex Regional High School, $675,000, new public safety and construction craft laborer programs
“Too many students who want to pursue career and technical education have been unable to access these opportunities because programs are full or unavailable in their communities,” Education Secretary Steve Zrike said in the release. The administration said the pilot builds on $70 million it awarded earlier to expand CTE at 28 schools, and that the six new grants together will create seats for about 500 more students a year. The announcement fell during Massachusetts STEM Week, October 19 to 23.
Why it matters in Everett
Everett High’s vocational programs have grown inside a regular high school rather than a separate vocational school, and the carpentry instructors told the School Committee on October 19 that the three-day exploratory students get as freshmen leaves many deciding on a trade with little time to try it. The city and Suffolk Construction brought a trades job fair to the high school gym on October 1. Medical assisting and web development are the two programs the state picked to fund; the governor’s release describes the goal as more hands-on training and industry credentials in health care and information technology. The full release is on mass.gov.
