Valley Tech first area school to open
Upton facility displays summer makeover
UPTON – Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School begins the 2019-2020 school year Monday, Aug. 19, and students and staff arriving back in the classroom will notice some major changes thanks to a handful of local students who assisted in completing campus enhancements during their summer break.
Valley Tech, which serves the towns of Bellingham, Blackstone, Douglas, Grafton, Hopedale, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Northbridge, Sutton, Upton and Uxbridge, is typically the first school in the region to open for the start of the new school year. This year, the school is welcoming 316 new freshmen and eight upper-class transfers who will join returning students for a total student body of 1,241 in grades 9 through 12.
Freshmen will return Friday, Aug. 16, for orientation and their first full day of school, while all other students return Monday.
The 193-day teaching year calendar creates an eight-week summer for students and school year staff. According to Facilities Manager James Brochu, this brief respite provides an ideal opportunity for the facilities team to complete the school’s list of building and maintenance improvements.
“We strive to give our students and staff an environment that they are proud of – a place where they want to be their best,” Brochu said. “We take pride in our work, we respect our campus, and we enjoy being here. Our 55-year old institution shines.”
Timothy Bouono, a painting & design technology instructor, worked closely with P&D students, Brady Smith, a senior from Millville, and Emma Thayer, a junior from Uxbridge, to complete several painting projects on campus. Utilizing over 60 gallons of paint, they touched up classroom walls, door frames, trim, hallways, and common areas. They also repainted the exterior sawdust collector located outside of the construction technology department after it was power washed, and scraped and painted all of the duct work in the competition center.
According to Brochu, the facilities team completed a detailed maintenance inspection and repairs of all academic and vocational classrooms. After a thorough review of all 57 classrooms, furniture was moved out, and the floors were washed and waxed. Working with Donald Rivers, lead custodian, and providing custodial assistance to complete that work, were juniors Brenden Elder from Millbury, Victoria Lopez from Northbridge, and Luke Morrison from Bellingham.
Students returning to school next week will also find a new mahogany bench by the track built by staff re-purposing the original scoreboard footings as the foundation.
In addition to the annual top-tobottom cleaning and maintenance, the school embarked upon significant projects such as crack sealing, seal coating, and stenciling of the whole campus; floor refinishing and painting of the entire automotive technology department; football field maintenance restoration; repainting of the track; and stucco wall repairs outside of the football locker room door area.