The New England Institute of Technology wants to enter the charter school market.
The East Greenwich-based university has submitted an initial application to the Rhode Island Department of Education to establish a charter school for high school students, scheduled to open in the 2025-2026 school year.
New England Tech Academy is expected to open with 144 ninth-graders but will enroll 1,152 students in grades 9 through 12 at two high schools by the 2033-2034 school year, the application states. The school will be open to students from across the state but will recruit primarily from Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls.
The school’s mission is to “offer career and technical education (CTE) programs and challenging academic coursework in a highly supportive environment,” the application states. Three educational tracks are offered: pre-engineering, computer science and health sciences.
The overall picture: The project is driven by Amy Grzybowski, Vice President of Workforce Development and Outreach at NEIT. She said the school will fill a clear need for a talented workforce while also trying to meet high demand for more seats at public charter schools.
It’s an interesting concept. NEIT already works with high school students to offer college courses, but opening an entire high school is a whole different challenge. It would be nice if NEIT offered free or reduced college tuition to its high school graduates, but for now the school will make sure all students take at least one college course. dGrzybowski said the school will initially be housed at NEIT, but eventually wants to open a location in Providence, Pawtucket or Central Falls.
What’s next: RIDE is now accepting public comments on the New England Tech Academy proposal through October 11, and a decision on the application will be made sometime before the end of the year.
This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island, which also includes information about local events, links to interesting stories and more. To receive it by email Monday through Friday, You can register here.
Dan McGowan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @danmcgowan.
