NEWBURYPORT — A recent Whittier Tech High School proposal to build a shared campus with Northern Essex Community College has left Mayor Sean Reardon believing there is a chance to alter the regional agreement that binds the district’s 11 cities and towns to the Haverhill school.
Reardon’s optimism comes just over a year after voters overwhelmingly turned down a $446 million proposal to build an entirely new building.
The Haverhill-based Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School includes students from Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury and West Newbury.
Each of those 11 communities pay a percentage of the school’s budget based on a regional agreement ratified in 1967. Roughly 70 percent of Whittier Tech students live in Haverhill, the only community where a majority of residents voted in favor of building a new school.
Soon after last year’s failed vote, Reardon formed a regional Whittier task force, in which representatives of all 11 communities began meeting to discuss changing the regional agreement. But all the municipalities must vote as one to make any alterations and Reardon said Haverhill officials have been reluctant to go along.
Months after the task force was formed, Gov. Maura Healey announced in April that Whittier Tech was looking into a shared Haverhill campus model between itself and Northern Essex Community College.
Both schools would share spaces like gymnasiums, theaters, and administrative areas. The potential move could also enhance efficiencies, reduce costs, as well as create innovative educational opportunities for both institutions.
The previous Whittier building plan had been involved in the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) program to help pay for a new school. Now with a new shared campus model in the pipeline, Whittier Tech was invited back into the MSBA’s eligibility phase in December.
“It’s the same process, new building,” Whittier Tech School Superintendent Maureen Lynch said, on Thursday.
A new shared campus working group has also been formed to reach a consensus on the plan within the district’s municipalities. Reardon said the group had its first meeting on Monday.
Pointing to a Dec. 13 letter from the MSBA to Lynch, the mayor said Wednesday the regional agreement can be amended as necessary before the eligibility phase potentially begins on Aug. 1.
One of the first topics of discussion on Monday, Reardon added, was redoing the 1967 pact by July 1.
“We always thought we’d end up here,” he said. “But it’s nice to know, if this is going to move forward. Then the 11 communities are going to have to get together and redo that regional agreement.”
Lynch, however, said she’s not sure that will be the case.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done right now,” she said. “We’re in the very early stages, so it’s too early to talk about the regional agreement or where, or if we will build.”
While the shared campus working group could be talking about whether certain school districts want to leave the regional agreement, Reardon said the opposite could also be true.
“There may be districts that want to be a part of this,” he said. “That should be talked about too. This is such a unique model that there might be students in Methuen, Andover or North Andover that would want to be a part of it.”
Lynch, however, said those three communities already feed into the Greater Lawrence Technical School.
“Those districts already have a vocational, technical school,” she said.
Reardon and Lynch did see eye-to-eye when it comes to the state seeing the value in a shared campus model.
“This is an opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done in Massachusetts or really even in the Northeast,” Reardon said. “A lot of the models they are looking at are from all over the country. This is really a terrific chance to try to do something new and be innovative.”
Lynch agreed.
“There’s a real opportunity here for possibly working together with NECC,” she said. “So, we’re going to keep working and trying to find the best solution for Whittier and our communities.”
Reardon also said the new shared campus model could also bring Haverhill back to looking at the regional agreement.
“When you know that all 11 of you have to agree on something and you’re getting push back from one of those communities, those conversations are difficult,” he said. “So, we didn’t know if we had a path. Now, I think we do know that we have one because I certainly believe it’s in Haverhill’s best interest to want to get into the MSBA program.”