WORCESTER—The Worcester School Committee on Thursday got its first full look at a newly proposed grading policy and approved grant funding to upgrade Worcester Technical High School’s advanced manufacturing facility, pending further discussion about naming rights.
The committee voted to hold off on implementing a mastery-based grading policy until at least September. The proposal reached the full board after two stops at the Standing Committee on Finance, Operations, and Governance (FOG).
In a separate unanimous vote, with Mayor Joseph Petty absent, the committee approved accepting a $500,000 grant from the Gene Haas Foundation to help fund an $850,000 upgrade at Worcester Tech—contingent on additional review of a requirement to rename the facility for Gene Haas.
Former school committee member Tracy O’Connell Novick, speaking during the meeting’s public comment period, urged the committee to reject the Haas Foundation grant to avoid associating the district with Haas, who served a two-year prison sentence for tax evasion in the late 2000s.
Under the grant terms, the school’s advanced manufacturing facility would be renamed the “Gene Haas Center for Advanced Manufacturing” for at least 12 years. School officials said the $500,000 gift would allow the district to proceed with the $850,000 renovation, with the remaining $350,000 covered by private funders.
The district’s long relationship with the Haas Foundation has sparked debate before, including a 2023 donation consideration that similarly focused on Haas’s legal history. This time, discussion also centered on how the district’s new naming policy applies. Adopted earlier this year, the policy requires FOG and designated administrators to vet naming requests before a vote by the full committee.
Worcester Tech Principal Drew Weymouth urged approval, calling the investment transformative. “This half-million dollar donation from Gene Haas that comes with naming rights would complete the project vision,” he said, “which would bring our advanced manufacturing shop from more of an industrial age into a laboratory age and upgrade all of our equipment to be state of the art. It’ll be a lab that, according to the Haas Foundation, is more advanced than any other high school lab in the country and will put our kids in the cutting edge of current equipment and technology.”
The committee’s vote accepted the grant but sent the naming request to FOG’s September meeting for review under the policy. If approved, Worcester would become the seventh high school in the nation to name a facility for Haas.
The mastery-based grading proposal—two years in development—advanced to the full committee for the first time after initially deadlocking at FOG and later receiving unanimous support there to move forward.
The model emphasizes mastery of content, allowing students to retake assessments and assignments to better demonstrate understanding, with supporters arguing it provides a more accurate and equitable measure of learning than traditional averages.
The policy is slated to begin at the high school level, with possible expansion to middle schools after an initial phase-in. For now, final action is on hold until at least September while members continue to evaluate the rollout, training, and implementation details.
Jason Bleau, a seasoned reporter from Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, has over 11 years of news media experience. He has worked as a news anchor for WINY 1350 AM, contributed to Stonebridge Press publications, and covered racing as a Press Box coordinator at Thompson Speedway. Outside journalism, he is a movie enthusiast, freelance film reviewer, banker, and solo musician. He can be reached at bleau.jason@yahoo.com
