‘Workforce of tomorrow’
Council eyes boosting voc-tech education
A Boston City Council committee is holding a meeting tomorrow at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury in an effort to figure out how to improve vocational education in the city, connect businesses and industry to the school and give more kids different opportunities.
“Through good vocational-technical education, we’re creating the workforce of tomorrow,” Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, chairwoman of the education committee, told the Herald yesterday. “It better prepares kids for additional education. It is the most direct way we can connect kids in Boston to economic opportunity in the city.”
The policy briefing, scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Roxbury school, is being led by Essaibi George and Councilors Kim Janey and Michelle Wu. The councilors are asking for public input on the next direction of the often-forgotten high school.
The effort comes after a long history with Madison Park that has been plagued by low test scores, a high dropout rate, leadership turnover, the absence of any mission and limited opportunities for staff collaboration.
And it is amid a push by many other Massachusetts vocational schools to revamp their curriculum and renovate buildings to shift from trades like carpentry and plumbing to new industries like engineering.
Since February, Essaibi George, Janey and Wu have been visiting other vocational schools such as Worcester Technical High School and the Minuteman Career and Technical High School in Lexington to find out how those schools are connecting classrooms to real-world industries.
“We have a lot of great people working at Madison,” said Essaibi George.
“But we need to improve access to resources, strengthen partnerships and make sure that our big businesses in Boston are also investing in this work.”
One of the changes could be a better application process for students to the school, she said.
“For so many years, we’d send kids outside of the city for vocational education,” Essaibi George said.
“We have a facility that could be state of the art. We have industry in the city. We have employment. We need the kids to have access to those opportunities. Madison can do that for us.”