EAST GREENWICH – Plans for the New England Institute of Technology to launch a new charter school are being put on hold while the technical college seeks additional feedback from the community to refine its proposal.
Amy Grzybowski, New England Tech’s vice president of community relations, told Providence Business News the college applied with the R.I. Department of Education in June 2024 to create a new charter school, knowing there was a “high demand” for career and technology opportunities for students. She said about 2,600 students across the state are currently on waitlists to enter into new career and technical education programs.
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Grzybowski said New England Tech had a vision of providing high school students with specialized CTE programs and “rigorous coursework in a highly supportive environment,” hence applying with RIDE to form a new charter school. Focus areas were going to be engineering, cybersecurity and health care, Grzybowski said.
Plus, back in 2023, New England Tech launched an early college dual-enrollment program, collaborating with William M. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School in Lincoln and the Providence Public School District that was designed for students who want to earn college credits and credit toward high school graduation simultaneously.
While New England Tech developed a “strong proposal” for RIDE, the college, Grzybowski said, decided to take more time to refine and craft a plan to create the new charter school. She said the school wants to discuss the plan with more people and give itself more time to plan and develop “an even stronger proposal” tailored to both students’ needs and the state’s workforce.
“As planning got underway and [we] started talking to stakeholders, we saw more opportunities to work more deeply with the curriculum design to make sure it’s distinct from the existing offerings within the state,” Grzybowski said. “We want to try to stand out and be different.”
Grzybowski didn’t offer a specific time frame as to when New England Tech will reapply with the state for the new school. She said the college is still working on its proposal and it “will be ready to apply” once RIDE offers the next opportunity to apply.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
