By Matthew K. Roy
PEABODY — City lawmakers last night changed the future of vocational education in Peabody by choosing to join a regional school district that will give students access to a $133 million high school in 2013.
The historic vote of the City Council was 8-3.
"The opportunity is here: We have to latch on to it, we have to grab it," Ward 2 Councilor Arthur Athas said.
Joining the district represents a sizable investment for Peabody. The city will have to borrow $8.4 million to fund its portion of construction costs and pay a yearly assessment estimated at $2.6 million. But, to supporters, the state-of-the-art facilities and diverse course offerings at the new school are worth the money.
"Let's move forward and give (students) what they deserve," Councilor-at-large Dave Gravel said.
Council President Barry Sinewitz, Councilor-at-large Ted Bettencourt and Ward 3 Councilor Rico Mello cast the dissenting votes. They expressed concern about the price and the loss of local control that comes with regionalization.
"I'm a bottom-line guy," Sinewitz said. "It's clearly not fiscally responsible for the city."
Peabody is the largest of the 17 communities being asked to send students to the regional school, which will merge North Shore Technical High School and Essex Aggie.
The state has pledged nearly $100 million to pay for it, including $77.5 million from the Massachusetts School Building Authority and a commitment of $21.1 million from the governor. The regional district's cities and towns are being asked to pay $31.2 million.
"I wouldn't be able to wake up tomorrow knowing that I said no to $100 million and put everything in limbo," Athas said.
The new school will enroll 1,440 students in a 380,000-square-foot facility along Route 62 in Danvers. Initially, 175 slots will be available to students from Peabody. That number could swell to 250 by the time the school reaches peak enrollment in 2017.
The city will be able to close the three vocational shops — for automotive technology, carpentry and auto body — it currently operates for high school students at Higgins Middle School. It's an outcome that city and school officials have long sought.
Students who would otherwise participate in programming at Higgins — now 96 in all — have been guaranteed a spot at the regional voke. The high school will also maintain some vocational courses at its campus on Lowell Street.
Mello said he would prefer the city spend $8.4 million on its own schools, but his amendment requesting the mayor to do so failed. Bettencourt said there were "too many unanswered questions" about costs and the school's admissions process. He also worried that 175 slots were not enough. The city now has 514 full-time vocational students.
Gravel, however, said the city shouldn't let fear of the unknown prevent it from joining the district. Similar fear, he said, killed plans for a new high school a decade ago.
"I've been down this street, and I hear the echoes," he said prior to the vote.
For too long, Ward 1 Councilor Barry Osborne said, the perception in Peabody has been that the city always takes "the cheapest way" when it comes to its schools.
"I want to do it the right way," he said.
Councilor-at-large Anne Manning supported the merger but said state law needed to be changed to allow the school to modernize its curriculum and teach trades useful in a "green" economy.
Ward 4 Councilor Robert Driscoll said the school, open 18 hours a day, would serve as a job-training center and benefit the local economy.
Other area communities have until Dec. 15 to decide whether to join the district.
The concept, initially supported by former Mayor Peter Torigian, has been in the planning stages for 12 years.
"It's a relief," Mayor Michael Bonfanti said, "after all these years, we're finally making some progress."
