Just an addition to Jacqueline Rabe Thomas’ Dec. 2 piece about cuts to programs in the Connecticut Technical High School System: More than our sports programs have been threatened in recent years. Let’s not forget that in 2011, the CTHSS laid off all music teachers, art teachers, and deans of students. Our positions were reinstated shortly before the 2011 school year started, and thankfully most of us returned to teach that year.
When you consider that the CTHSS enrolls roughly 6 percent of the entire state’s high school student population, (according to 2009 Public School enrollment data provided on the CT Bureau of Grants Management website) it really puts the reach of our system into perspective. Any program reductions to the CTHSS are likely to have a significant impact on not only the education of the district’s students, but the Connecticut’s economy as a whole.
Joy Supples is a teacher at Grasso Regional Vocational Technical High School in Groton.