J. M. Wright Technical High School

J.M. Wright Technical High School, also known as "J.M. Wright Vocational-Technical School" and, more familiarly, as "Wright Tech", is a vocational high school run by the state of Connecticut in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. Enrollment at the school has been shrinking in recent years, and state officials are actively considering transforming the school into a training center that would have students graduate from their hometown high schools.

The school offers training in seven trades. For the class of 2007, the most popular were automotive technology; electrical; and hairdressing, cosmetology and barbering.Killeffer, Al, special correspondent, "58 grads take flight at Wright Tech", article, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, June 16, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008] The other programs are plumbing and heating, health technology, and autobody.

Students at the school have come from Stamford, Norwalk, Easton, Fairfield, Weston, Wilton, Westport, New Canaan, Greenwich, and Bridgeport. In recent years, however, more students have been coming from the immediate Stamford area. In the Class of 2008, 38 percent of students are from local school districts, and 62 percent are from Bridgeport. But in the Class of 2011, 82 percent of students are from around Stamford."Give Wright Tech the chance to succeed", editorial, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, November 14, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008]

Trailblazers Academy, a charter school with 150 students in grades 6 through 8 run by the nonprofit Domus Foundation of Stamford, has been housed in the Wright Tech building since 2000.Gosier, Chris, "Wright Tech upgrades delayed", article, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, November 22, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008] Trailblazers students have struggled in traditional schools. As of the 2006-2007 school year, about 98 percent of the students were from Stamford.Gosier, Chris, "Legal issue may push charter school out of Wright Tech", article, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, July 19, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008]

Adult education

The school offers a variety of programs for adults during the day and evenings, and adults may participate in all technical offerings offered to high school students during the school day. Programs offered to adults include licensed practical nursing, a program for certified nurse assistants, and apprenticeship programs. [Web page titled, "Adult Education" at the J.M. Wright Technical High School Web site, accessed January 4, 2008]

truggles to improve the school

The school is one of 14 in the state called "dropout factories", a term used by education researchers, in which 60 percent of the students who were freshmen eventually leave school before graduating. ["14 Schools in state on list", "The Hartford Courant" October 30, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008]

Sid Abramowitz, principal since 2005, announced in March 2008 that he would step down at the end of his third school year. He said he had made the decision in December and told staff members starting in January. Abramowitz raised standards at the school, which weeded out a number of disorderly and unserious students, according to parents. But the school's already-declining enrollment dropped further, resulting in the state Board of Education nearly deciding to radically alter the nature of the school.Gosier, Chris, "Wright Tech principal to retire: Abramowitz credited with reforming school", "The Advocate", March 6, 2008, pp 1, A4]

Under Abramowitz' administration, school uniforms became a requirement and a system was established to hold teachers accountable for student lateness and other behavioral problems. In 2007, 66 percent of the school's sophomores met the reading proficiency standard of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT), up from 32 percent in 2006.

"The school has become more orderly under Abramowitz", according to an article in "The Advocate" Test scores also have improved since 2005, and entrance requirements also have become more stringent.Gosier, Chris, "Wright Tech changes postponed for a year", article, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, November 16, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008]

But enrollment continued sliding. In 2002-2003 enrollment was at 445. By 2007-2008 it was 250 to 300. In 1984 it was 714. Abramowitz said in late 2007 that he was still working on getting more students to come to the school and it would take a few more years of work changing perceptions of the school and building relationships with area middle schools. He said he wanted more state funding for advertisements. In 2007 the school had a total of 58 graduates.

According to state officials, some reasons for the decline are because of a smaller pool of eligible students, competition from technical education programs offered by the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering, an inter-district magnet school in Stamford. Before 2007, J.M. Wright canceled carpentry, drafting, manufacturing because of low enrollment, but in 2001 the state also added information support services, network systems, programming and software development programs, among others. A health technology program was added in 2005. [Gosier, Chris, "Boosters for Wright Tech call on state for assistance", article, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, December 24, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008]

A $41 million plan to renovate the school, including upgrding classrooms and improving technology, was postponed in 2007 because, state officials said, vocational schools in Groton and Norwich were found to be in more urgent need of the money. The renovation plans call for upgrading all classrooms, installing air conditioning, and providing new technology for the culinary arts, auto repair and other programs. An expanded library and a new two-story atrium (including a balcony) at the front entrance is also a part of the plan.

Proposal to change to a two-year training center

In November 2007, the state Board of Education was ready to transform the high school into a training center (or "career academy") where students would transfer as juniors or seniors for a year or two of training and receive their diplomas from their hometown high schools. Bristol Tech, in Bristol, Connecticut is the only technical school in the state to follow that model and state education officials pointed to increased enrollment at that school while enrollment is down at Wright Tech. High school graduates also attend the school for training, although most students there are still in high school.)Gosier, Chris, "Wright Tech faces change: Task force looks to Bristol model", article, "The Advocate" of Stamford, Connecticut, December 24, 2007, accessed via newsbank.com on January 4, 2008]

But a decision was postponed for a year after an outcry from backers of Wright Tech, including some state legislators, local business people, alumni and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford. Some said they feared the change would be disastrous for the school because few teenagers would want to change from taking classes at high school to taking them at Wright Tech starting in the 11th grade.

As an alternative to changing the school immediately, a task force of state legislators, business leaders, educators and others was set up and scheduled to start meeting in January 2008. The task force is to focus on how to modify Wright Tech to draw more students.

Abramowitz, the principal, said in late 2007 that he preferred having both a four-year high school and a career academy at the same time in the school building in order to show the state which model attracts more students.

tudent activities

The school has a National Honor Society chapter, a Student Activities Association (which approves requests for fund-raising, student activities, and purchases made from student activity funds), a yearbook and a local chapter of Skills USA VICA, part of a national vocational student organization serving trade, industrial, technical, and health occupations.

ports

FALL

Football Soccer Volleyball

WINTER Boys' basketball Cheerleading Girls' basketball

SPRING Baseball Softball Track

ee also

* Connecticut Technical High School System

Notes

External links

* [http://www.cttech.org/wright/ J.M. Wright High School Web site]