Plans for a new $445M high school are officially off the table after failed Whittier Tech vote

Plans for a new $444.6 million Whittier Tech vocational school are off the table in Haverhill after voters balked at the eye-watering price tag and refused to approve funding for the project. 

Last month, voters in the 11 communities that make up the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School district shot down the proposal by a healthy margin; according to The Eagle-Tribune, the naysayers accounted for about 73% of all votes cast. 

Rather than put the same project up for another vote in April, the Whittier Tech School Committee voted Tuesday to remove the plans from the Massachusetts School Building Authority process entirely. 

In doing so, the school district forfeits millions of dollars in state funding for the school building project as currently designed. However, the motion from School Committee member Donna Holaday left open the possibility of resubmitting plans to the MSBA “at some other time in the future when we’re ready with a redesigned project going forward.”

The school district noted earlier this month that it might take several years before Whittier Tech is ready to reapply to the MSBA, and there would be no guarantee of another acceptance into the program. 

What went wrong with the Whittier Tech vote? 

Superintendent Maureen Lynch said her conversations with local leaders have highlighted several factors that may have contributed to the failed Jan. 23 referendum. Specifically, she cited insufficient community buy-in, concerns about the project’s cost and financing, and a general lack of clear, effective communication about the project.

“Overall, it seems that … many of the cities and towns didn’t feel that they were informed, that they knew what was going on, that they were reported to,” Lynch said. “And so I think we all have an ownership in that, because we have to figure out a communication plan moving forward.”

She added: “We want everyone to feel like they’re a part of Whittier Tech, and it’s clear that many do not feel that they’re a part of what’s going on here.”

District leaders must consider that feedback moving forward — especially as it pertains to communication, agreed School Committee member Patricia Lowell.

“That’s how we have to move forward, is start to look at withdrawing the statement of interest and setting the priorities of what has to be done in the immediate future to keep the building safe and functional for students, but then a long-term plan of how to address the bigger issues,” Lowell said.

What’s next for Whittier Tech?

As for the near future, Whittier Tech has a laundry list of capital projects that include faltering wastewater, electrical, and HVAC systems.

According to Lynch, Merrimac recently approached the school about the possibility of tying Whittier Tech into the town’s new wastewater treatment plant, offering one potential step forward. 

In a press release last week, the district said it will evaluate the existing school building’s infrastructure and create a strategic plan to address maintenance issues “in triage order.” 

“I know many of you are looking for answers right away, and I believe we need to take a really thoughtful approach about how we move forward and learn some lessons from what happened over the last six months,” Lynch said Tuesday. 

She estimated that a long-range plan for Whittier Tech will take school officials “at least a few months.”

The vote on the $444.6 million building project “didn’t go the way we had hoped,” Lynch acknowledged.

“But I truly believe that something better is always over on that horizon,” she said. “This didn’t happen for a reason, and we’ll find out what that reason is and something better will be happening for Whittier Tech, because our kids and our staff are counting on us to do that.”

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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