Whittier Vo-Tech would take more Haverhill students if they could meet the school's entrance standards, the school's Haverhill representatives told the School Committee.
The regional vocational-technical high school will not loosen its admissions procedure to allow more Haverhill students in, said Christopher Kelley and Richard Early, the Haverhill representatives to the Whittier School Board.
For the past several months, Haverhill School Committee member Paul Magliocchetti has researched the question of how only 64 percent of Whittier's population are from Haverhill when the city's taxes pay for roughly 70 percent of the school's expenses.
Magliocchetti similarly questioned the necessity of a pre-admission interview that accounts for a significant portion of a student's acceptance score and criticized the number of out-of-district school choice students accepted to attend the school.
"There's nothing that says they have to have the standards that they have," Magliocchetti said. "I'm not saying take failing kids out of our schools."
Kelley said that Whittier's standards would remain in place. The interview process is a known step that should provide "easy" points for admission while weeding out students attending only at their parents' insistence.
"They have to have a realistic interest in technical education," said Kelley. "A lot of them are getting extra points because of the interview."
Kelley said about 52 percent of applicants to Whittier are accepted.
On the topic of school choice, Kelley said that any Haverhill student who passes the admission test is guaranteed a seat a Whittier. He said that the number of students accepted through school choice would correct itself if enough Haverhill students passed the admission exam.
"That problem takes care of itself," he said.
Magliocchetti said Haverhill's administration has made missteps in preparing students for admission to Whittier.
Specifically, he said conflicting reports from teachers and guidance counselors on student conduct has eliminated many students.
"That discrepancy is keeping kids from going in," said Magliocchetti. "We need to take some accountability."
Kelley pointed out that Whittier has made an active outreach to many Haverhill middle school students by taking them on campus tours and shadowing experiences to show them what's expected of Whittier applicants.
Other Haverhill School Committee members backed the Whittier board members' stand.
Committee member Joseph Bevilacqua said that throughout all the discussions raised by the committee members, he's always sided with Whittier's standards.
"I firmly believe the central office of Haverhill doesn't want kids to go to Whittier," he said. "If we continue to bring our standards down our kids are going to fall further behind."
Committee member Raymond Sierpina said the problem of admission that Whittier faces is one he wishes Haverhill had.
"Whatever you're doing, you're doing it right," he said.
