As state and local dollars grow increasingly hard to come by, Blackstone Valley Tech has announced the receipt of five additional grants totaling roughly $150,000.
While the school regularly pursues alternative sources of nontax dollars, Superintendent-Director Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick said that those efforts have been “ramped up” in response to difficult economic conditions.
“Selective competitive grants play a vital role in securing technology and advancing initiatives without asking local stakeholders to foot the bill,” Fitzpatrick said. “As voters in upcoming town meetings will see, grants and other alternative revenue sources have enabled Valley Tech to present a budget that protects and advances a quality education, yet limits next year’s operational increase to 1.65 percent.”
The largest of the recent grants was awarded for Fiscal Year 2016 by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Equipment and Supplies Grant Program. The $90,119 grant will be used to upgrade career-training equipment and technology, including the purchase of a cutting-edge Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling machine and laptops in the new Engineering Technology laboratory, as well as robotic building kits to be used by several shops.
A $25,000 award from the SkillsUSA/Lowe’s 2015 Campus Improvement Grant Program will help address the growing demand for Valley Tech seating by establishing a Construction Technologies satellite campus. Working with Alternatives Unlimited, Inc., Valley Tech will renovate several structures on the nonprofit’s Northbridge property to create vocational classroom space and a construction barn in which Construction Technology students can work on large scale projects. The satellite campus will open up valuable space for academic classrooms on Valley Tech’s Upton campus, which currently operates at absolute capacity.
Valley Tech’s integration of academic and vocational technical education will also benefit from the recent awards. Two grants totaling $10,000 from the New England School Development Council and the Biogen Idec Foundation/Cambridge Community Foundation will enhance the school’s ongoing partnership with the Global STEM Education Center, and an $11,425 Vocational Leadership grant for improved MCAS performance was awarded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
press release
UPTON DAILY 