Local leader praises CCT in Cape Cod Times
Published on Thursday, December 13, 2007
December 13, 2007
Christmas is coming, presents are in the air, but often, we miss our best gifts because they are many smaller things, accumulated gradually and under our noses.
I thought of that when I hear Supt. Bill Fisher deliver a speech about the varied accomplishments of Cape Cod Regional Technical High School and his pride in the community institution. I was sort of familiar with the various programs and innovations made at the Harwich school — the Ellen Jones Dental Clinic, the new energy program. But because all these things had happened over the course of time, the overall impact was lost.
Cape Tech serves 12 towns, with an enrollment of 724 students, and about a dozen post-graduate students back for training or certification. When you say "trade school," often a 1950s stereotype of kids walking around with grease on their denims springs to mind. In reality, those kids working on cars (or boats, as there is a great marine program there) are all using computer diagnostics, just like at your dealership.
While Tech does offer traditional HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), automotive, plumbing, electrical and carpentry training, the school offers much more.
People don't realize that the public is welcome at the school. You can have you hair done at the cosmetology school's shop, eat lunch at the Hidden Cove Restaurant run by the culinary arts school, and shop for shrubs and flowers at the Roots and Roses greenhouse, powered by solar generators.
When you walk through the school, the 33-year-old campus is immaculate. Fisher told me that the school has never asked any of the sending towns for repair money beyond the annual budget — the student body maintains its own facility. This year, a new roof costing $1 million was done mostly with donated material. With the help of the Cape Light Compact, the school replaced outdated and inefficient light fixtures and installed new "smart" refrigeration and cooling units, which only turn on when needed, a huge electricity savings.
In addition to existing wind and solar uses, the new tri-generation energy system is projected to save 35 to 50 percent of energy costs. Best of all, the kids who are doing this as class work now have those skills to take into the marketplace. With a boost of state aid, Cape Tech was able to reduce town assessments this year by $125,000 — every sending community received a check.
"Technology changes in a millisecond," Fisher said, and forces him to make quick choices. Tech has $12 million to $15 million in equipment and has to invest in new technologies wisely. The school takes into account the various types of learning styles — visual, auditory, tactile — and tailors classes and equipment choices to complement the students. While the carpentry class teaches traditional blueprint reading, it also has 20 laptops equipped with CAD programs to let students work the way they will in the business world.
The school has challenges. Nearly 30 percent of its students are considered special needs, twice the percentage of any sending community. No exceptions made, Tech students take and pass the same MCAS exams as conventional high schools that devote all their time to academics. This is done by teaching English and math every day in addition to the shop courses through the first two years. Next year, science will be added as a requirement and after that social studies.
"It's a problem — we have to meet the same academic standards, but also have to teach our vocational units. Beyond a certain point, it won't be a tech school," Fisher noted.
Still, Cape Cod Tech concentrates on teaching every phase of the businesses they will work for or own.
"We teach our kids that if they have to show up at 7 a.m. — whether they're the boss or they work for the boss — that's what a responsible adult does."
So here is a Christmas present for every resident of Cape Cod — a vibrant school, serving young adults who choose careers in trades and small businesses. They are the future middle class of Cape Cod, the backbone of what makes the Cape a real community instead of an elderly gated village.
Cynthia Stead of Dennis is a member of the Republican State Committee. E-mail her at cestead@gmail.com.