Wayland Town Crier 12/30/10: Minuteman School Committee to consider changes to regional agreement. The Minuteman Regional Vocational School Committee could vote on recommended changes to the district’s regional agreement on Tuesday, Jan. 4, the same day the Regional Agreement Task Force reviews a funding formula proposed in its draft recommendations. Officials said the task force’s proposed changes would keep Minuteman in line to receive state funding for a future building project, while hopefully making it more attractive to join the district for neighboring communities currently sending dozens of students to the career and technical high school in Lexington.

Boston Globe 6/27/10: Minuteman wages campaign to boost image beyond trades. Unlike other regional vocational schools around the state, Minuteman has had a longstanding history of low enrollment from its 16 member communities: Acton, Arlington, Belmont, Bolton, Boxborough, Concord, Carlisle, Dover, Lancaster, Lexington, Lincoln, Needham, Stow, Sudbury, Wayland, and Weston. Minuteman is about to embark upon an enrollment study that will look back at its struggles and look forward to predict its student population, part of preparations for a major project to renovate the building, which hasn’t been updated since opening in 1979. Minuteman could handle up to 800 full-time students from its member communities; this year’s enrollment from the 16 suburbs was 364, the lowest in its history. To round out its numbers, the school accepted 219 full-time students from outside communities, along with 118 part-time and postgraduate students.

Boston Globe 6/6/10: Minuteman regional school prepares new request to fund rehab study. A study looking at renovation options for the Minuteman Career & Technical High School in Lexington is on hold, at least for the next two months. With approval by all 16 of the regional vocational school’s member communities required to pay for the study, it was blocked in April when Belmont’s Town Meeting voted against the proposal. While the vote means the project can’t move forward now, school officials say they’ve been working with Belmont officials and are optimistic that the town will come around.

Wayland Town Crier 5/5/10: Town of Belmont says no to Minuteman High feasibility study. Belmont Town Meeting last week rejected a proposal to pay for its share of a major feasibility study for Minuteman Career and Technical High School in Lexington. The decision, which fell 23 votes shy of the necessary simple majority, makes Belmont the first of the 16 member towns to reject it’s portion of the $725,000 study and throws up a major roadblock for the vocational school. The study would look at the school’s enrollment and need for structural repairs, and requires approval of all member towns to authorize the borrowing. Nine other member towns have already approved the study at their Town Meetings this spring.

Wayland Town Crier 3/16/10: All 16 member towns must vote to approve Minuteman study. All 16 member towns must vote to approve a feasibility study for renovation of the Minuteman Career and Technical High School in Lexington, a school that one Wayland parent calls the "hidden jewel" of the public school system. The high school was constructed in 1974, and since then little money has been allocated for capital improvements on the well-maintained, but aging facility. The $725,000 feasibility study is an all-or-nothing proposition in which each member town must approve the capital request or it won’t move forward. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will reimburse the towns for 40 percent of the cost of the study. The cost of the feasibility study to each town over a five-year bond period is based on enrollment from each town. The average annual cost to Lincoln and Weston would be $1,035, Sudbury’s share would be $2,069, and Wayland’s share is $3,930.

Boston Globe 3/4/10: Minuteman Regional School to make case for renewal. During the past 25 years, the 16 communities comprising the Minuteman Regional School District have invested nearly a half-billion dollars to renovate or build their own local schools. In that same time period, no money has been spent to improve the 31-year-old building that houses the Minuteman Career and Technical High School in Lexington. School officials and parents hope that changes this spring when residents vote on a feasibility study that will look at renovation options for the school. For the study to go forward, all 16 communities have to approve funds for the project. The study will cost $725,000, but 40 percent will be reimbursed by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The towns must cover the remaining cost, with each share based on enrollment. The amounts range from a low of $1,034 a year for Dover, Lincoln, and Weston, to a high of $27,823 a year for Arlington. Most communities would pay less than $5,000 a year for the next five years to pay off the bond.