Dr. Perkins and Mr. Seagala (CVT staff) briefed the Quincy School Committee on proposed amendments from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that would change admissions to oversubscribed career and technical education (CTE/CVT) programs beginning with the 2025–26 cycle.

Under the DESE proposal, applicants to oversubscribed CTE programs would be admitted by a public weighted lottery rather than by locally administered merit criteria. The draft regulations would require programs to offer at least two open houses and three virtual information sessions before they could require applicants to demonstrate “interest”; permitted demonstrations of interest in the draft include interviews, tours, recorded presentations, essays and letters of recommendation. Separately, the draft would assign extra “weights” in the lottery for attendance and discipline measures; presenters and committee members said those weighted factors were unclear in practice and could be interpreted so that students with very different attendance records receive the same weight.

Quincy CVT staff described the district’s current admissions process for oversubscribed programs: a locally administered, weighted rubric that includes grades, attendance, discipline, a student statement of interest and teacher recommendations, with a 100‑point total. Staff and committee members said the existing policy incentivizes 9th‑grade performance, prepares students for program expectations and helps teacher and employer partners assess readiness. They argued the DESE proposed approach would reduce local control, weaken incentives for good attendance and behavior, and create programmatic and safety risks in hands‑on technical programs.

Committee members and presenters raised practical and equity concerns: one principal told staff the cost of staffing and running the five required events could be large — the principal estimated roughly $70,000 for a single program to provide multiple sessions and staffing — and committee members questioned whether open houses and virtual sessions would meaningfully measure student interest. Staff also said the draft regulations do not clearly define how the “weights” would be applied in a lottery (for example, whether a student’s name would be entered multiple times) and that the department had not provided supporting data explaining the need for the change.

Presenters identified a public comment deadline of April 18, 2025, and a Board of Education vote scheduled for May 20, 2025. Committee members directed staff to draft a letter of opposition to send during the public comment period, to circulate a final version for committee review at the April 9 meeting, and to notify local business partners and program advisory committees so they can submit comments as well. Several committee members volunteered to sign and send the letter; no formal committee vote on a position was recorded that night.