By CHRISTIAN MAITRE
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
School Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa agreed to research the possibility of bringing a plumbing program to Waltham High School, following a tense School Committee meeting.
School Committee member James Zanghi explained that he has received multiple requests from community members expressing interest in having a plumbing program at Waltham High School.
He said he wants to gauge demand for the program and research what the application to create such a program would entail.
Mayor Jeannette McCarthy said the process could be difficult.
The state’s Department of Secondary Education (DESE) in the past has denied Waltham’s request to add new vocational programs to the city’s existing high school offerings, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said the state eventually approved the 14 vocational programs now offered at the city’s new high school, which opened for classes at the start of this school year.
McCarthy noted that DESE opted out of approving a plumbing program in Waltham, approving one instead for Minuteman High School, a vocational technical high school located in neighboring Lexington.
The Waltham school district currently partners with Minuteman allowing Waltham students to apply to the regional school’s plumbing program. If those students are accepted, the Waltham school district must pay Minuteman for the students’ schooling.
Zanghi also requested a memo detailing what year Waltham originally applied for a plumbing program and whether there has been a change in the demand for a program in the city.
John Frassica II, who sits on the School Committee’s Career Technical Education Subcommittee, expressed frustration at Zanghi’s request.
“It wasn’t that we never fought for that program,” he said.
Zanghi responded, clarifying that he wasn’t implying this, to which Frassica responded, saying, “I didn’t say you did, did I?”
Zanghi eventually reworked his motion to make discussion of the topic an agenda item at future committee meetings, but it was not seconded, so a vote could not be called.
McCarthy said she could give up the chair to second it but also said she believed the motion would not pass. She instead advised the superintendent to look into the matter without an official recommendation from the committee.
However, Frassica eventually seconded the motion.
A vote was called.
Although School Committee members Zanghi, Frassica and Debbie Coleman voted in favor of the motion, the motion did not pass. However, Mendonsa agreed to look into the matter.