Weymouth School Committee takes first step toward mandatory CTE lottery admissions system

WEYMOUTH — September 11, 2025 — Weymouth School Committee opens review of a state-mandated lottery system to replace its grade-based career and technical education admissions process. Samuel DePina, Director of Career Technical Education Programs at Weymouth High School, presented a proposed weighted-lottery policy at the September 11 meeting, the first reading required before the committee can formally adopt the change. The school receives between 295 and 300 annual applications for 190 available seats across 10 Chapter 74 vocational programs; under the current system, which uses grades and teacher recommendations, roughly one third of applicants are not considered. The new Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education mandate, finalized under Commissioner Pedro Martinez in August 2025, prohibits such criteria effective November 1 and requires a live application to be posted by that date. DePina's proposal would give each applicant one lottery entry for completing an application, with additional entries for meeting an attendance threshold — fewer than 27 full-day unexcused absences across seventh grade and the first half of eighth grade — and a clean discipline record, with no applicant able to win more than once. A second reading is scheduled for October 9.