When a new $35.4 million vocational campus opens in Gwinnett County next month, two high schools will share teachers, a library and classroom space, but not a name.
The education partnership takes a retro vo-tech, Maxwell High School of Technology, and an ambitious academy aimed at high-achievers, the Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Technology, and joins their campuses at the hip. The teens at the schools share similar career interests, but they will learn how to become architects, bioengineers and mechanics separately.
And some Gwinnett residents wonder whether maintaining similar schools for different kinds of students is the best use of tax dollars.
Both schools offer career education, but they teach it from different perspectives:
At Maxwell, where some teens at risk of dropping out find their niche, students study trades like welding part time. At the new GSMST building, students juggling a full-time load of honors classes will learn the science and skill it takes to design bridges that put expert welders to work.
Some say the schools could easily be combined to save money on administration, teachers, support staff and maintenance. And to challenge lower-performing students to step up their game.
“In tight budget times, Gwinnett Schools should be looking for ways to save money,” said parent activist Marlyn Tillman of Snellville. “Why spend money to separate students when they could learn more together?”
About 900 schools nationwide combine a full-time menu of academics with career training in career tech high schools, a growing segment of vocational education.
“The student’s entire focus is around one or more careers, and they will have several career tech classes every day,” explained James R. Stone, director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education. “They serve students of all academic abilities. In some states, some of these schools both outperform other high schools [on] test scores and graduation rates. As you teach carpentry class, you can dramatically improve kids' math skills."
More than 18,000 school districts offer some sort of vocational training. "One size doesn't fit all," he added.
Educators and business leaders praise the pairing of Maxwell and GSMST as neighbors, saying it provides the best of both worlds.
“If the students can benefit, why not,” said Gwinnett School board member Carole Boyce. “They are very different programs.”
There is some overlap, though. Both are charter schools that offer biotechnology, graphic arts, music production and computer classes.
Maxwell High, built in the 1970s, rests in the shadow of the new five-story GSMST building. About 1,400 students will pass through half-day programs at Maxwell's two-story building. It’s Maxwell’s highest enrollment in years. The school offers 25 programs ranging from cosmetology to auto repair.
“Our focus is mainly to help students to determine what they want to do when they grow up,” explained principal Donna Powers. “We ... give our kids hands-on experience.”
Approximately 630 students will attend GSMST, making it among the least populated Gwinnett high schools. The building is more than three times the size of Maxwell. One of GSMST’s five floors will sit empty reserved for growth at the school.
Merged together, Maxwell and GSMST would be about the size of a typical Gwinnett high school. Brookwood High, with a history for earning the district’s highest average SAT scores, has 3,437 students on a 430,000-square-foot campus.
GSMST principal Jeff Mathews said his school, which is relocating from Duluth to Lawrenceville, needs the extra space for learning. The new building has collegiate labs so experiments can be set up for long periods of time.
“Our school provides a tremendous focus in the areas of bioscience, engineering and emerging technologies,” he said.
GSMST is open to all students up for a challenge who apply and are selected by lottery drawing. It offers only honors classes, though. Students must complete their graduation requirements in under three years to give them more time for career exploration. "We have had some students here that were not necessarily as successful at middle school as they may have wanted to be,” Mathews said. "They are immersed in a culture in which they have a high area of interest and their performance really takes off.”
Madelaine Gildelamadrid, however, is still trying to understand why $35 million was spent on a new school for less than 700 students when others are overcrowded. “The Math, Science and Technology school is for smart kids,” she said. “They could save money and hire more teachers elsewhere.”
Last school year, Maxwell had a budget of $362,000 and 36 teachers and three administrators. GSMST has a $99,600 budget and 33 teachers and four administrators. (Neither budget figure includes personnel costs.) Administrators are paid between $90,000 and $98,000 annually excluding benefits and other bonuses.
The schools will collaborate. Five Maxwell teachers will have class space at GSMST. Powers said Maxwell will use GSMST's media center and lecture space. In turn, GSMST will use machinery in Maxwell's shop classes to study physics and other subjects.
Exposure to GSMST kids may inspire some struggling Maxwell students, Powers said. This year, Maxwell will open its doors to 100 at-risk freshmen.
“Students at GSMST are very bright and focused on their studies," Powers said. "Our students can get to know them and hopefully see that there is not a stigma on being smart, studying and doing well. They are going to be great neighbors.”
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