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Rather than asking Whittier Vo-Tech's school board to reduce or eliminate some of its screening procedures to let in more city students, the Haverhill School Committee ought to be asking how it can best emulate the vo-tech's successes.
Haverhill School Committee member Paul Magliocchetti challenged Whittier on its entrance requirements, saying too many Haverhill students were being rejected while seats at the regional school were being given to School Choice students from outside the district.
Magliocchetti's instincts were good. Haverhill should try to get as many of its students into the vo-tech that it can. But the goal should be to equip those students to succeed, not to lower the requirements.
Mayor James Fiorentini has noted that Whittier has options that Haverhill's public school's don't. And he's right. Haverhill's public schools are required by law to educate all the city students who come to its doors, regardless of their skill levels or willingness to learn. No student can be turned away for lack of motivation or inadequate preparation.
It is the job of the mayor and School Committee to hire a superintendent who will staff the schools with the personnel best equipped to handle the challenge that comes along with that mission.
Whittier's success not only in preparing its students for careers but in giving them a solid academic background is commendable. Whittier's students reached the milestone of 100 percent passing the MCAS years before Haverhill High students did.
During her interview to become Haverhill's interim superintendent, former Whittier superintendent Karen Sarkisian told the School Committee that Whittier administrators and instructors have created a culture of expectation at the school: for attendance, participation in class, commitment to career goals, for excellence.
Sarkisian didn't get the job, but her message should be adopted as a standard for the city's schools: expect the best and set the bar high, then hold everyone to that level.
Haverhill's representatives to the Whittier school board could not have said it better, telling the School Committee that if more Haverhill students were able to meet the entrance requirements, more would be admitted to the school.
This is a challenge that the committee should take on. When it writes the goals for interim Superintendent James Scully and his successor, one of them should be to prepare middle school students who have an aptitude for vocational or technical education for the admissions requirements at Whittier. The committee should set a specific goal — 10 more students, 25 more students, 50 more Haverhill students accepted — and a date by which it will meet that goal.
We urge the two school districts to work together to develop a path for Haverhill middle schoolers to be able to knock on the door at Whittier and to be welcomed inside not because they're being given a spot but because they have earned one.
