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Select Board Chair Lisa Kouchakdjian has been advocating for the Town of Sudbury to get back into a vocational education school district since she was elected to the Select Board in 2022. While the odds always appeared long given the massive demand for access to vocational education in Massachusetts, Kouchakdjian shared an update with the Select Board on March 17 that defied all odds.
Kouchakdjian announced that she was recently contacted by the Superintendent of Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District. According to Kouchakdjian, Superintendent Heidi Driscoll reached out and indicated that Minuteman was “really impressed with what we were trying to do at Town Meeting” and suggested the district may be ready to have early conversations about Sudbury re-entering as a member town.
“She also told me that there were other schools that were interested in joining Minuteman, but we were the only one that was making this type of effort.” Kouchakdjian and Town Manager Andy Sheehan are scheduled to meet with Driscoll later this month to discuss the process further.
The update comes as Sudbury considers establishing a stabilization fund, asking voters for roughly $200,000 a year at the upcoming Town Meeting, to demonstrate the town’s financial commitment to joining a vocational district.
However, the prospect of asking voters to approve the fund based on informal discussions drew pushback from member Charlie Russo.
“I applaud all the efforts that have gone toward this, and I think that moving toward vocational education district membership is a good thing,” Russo said. “But… I don’t like this. I think that she should meet in a public meeting. I think that the situation we’re in is we’re heading toward a $3 million commitment at Town Meeting, based on one phone call between two people.”
Kouchakdjian jumped in to clarify that Minuteman had already established a subcommittee to work on this matter.
Member Radha Gargeya then voiced strong support for the initiative, arguing that establishing the stabilization fund shows Minuteman that Sudbury is serious. “We are putting money where our words are,” he said. “It is giving us a higher likelihood—there’s no guarantee—but it’s giving us a higher likelihood of joining a vocational school district.”
Russo argued that before asking taxpayers for $200,000 a year, the town should require a formal letter indicating that the funds would genuinely improve Sudbury’s chances of admission. He compared the lack of documentation to other municipal expenses, asking, “Is this the standard we would have for $200,000 on a DPW truck? It’s sort of like one private phone conversation.”
That comparison didn’t sit well with other board members.
“I’m not comfortable comparing the education of children to capital, purchasing of trucks,” said Vice Chair Janie Dretler. She continued “I’m surprised that we’re actually even contemplating that discussion, and I don’t think that we ever have discussed education of kids and compared that to dump trucks and pickup trucks and things like that. So I’m very pleased that this first conversation will happen.”
Kouchakdjian also weighed in on the emotional and historical weight of the issue, reminding the board of the fallout from the town’s past decisions to leave Minuteman. “This community has hurt families by the decision that we made,” she said. “We’ve hurt students, and we need to rectify that.”
Member Dan Carty categorized the update as “absolutely positive news” but stressed that the town is still in the very early stages of exploration.
“Let’s just be clear that whatever meeting is happening, no commitments are being made,” Carty said. He urged the board to invite Superintendent Driscoll to an upcoming public meeting before Town Meeting to provide additional information. “This is the first conversation on this, not the last.”
Kouchakdjian and the Town Manager will report back to the Select Board following their preliminary meeting with Superintendent Driscoll.
