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Post by timholycross on Jan 11, 2019 12:18:12 GMT -5
Late to the discussion...I wondah if much of the animus toward the Mountaineer is somewhat "class based" i.e. makes the residents of the Wachusset district look like rubes etc? I didn't know that the high school was that big...ovah 2K kids...that would be one of the biggah schools in EMass. I believe at one time Wachusett was the largest regional HS in Massachusetts. Not sure if it still is. Channeling my inner Pakachoag Phreek; that is, providing some facts; you were/are correct! Latest MIAA figures show Wachusett at 2159 (1018 boys, 1141 girls); second is Acton Boxborough at 1908 (979 and 929) In girls sports they are the fourth largest high school overall, smaller only to Brockton (2094), Lowell (1556) and Lawrence (1497); and my guess is there are other factors that effectively make them smaller only to Brockton In boys sports they are tenth (Brockton, Lowell, Lawrence, BC High, New Bedford, Durfee, Lexington, Framingham, Newton North), with Weymouth and Springfield Central each a kid behind them. The only sport in their Central Mass district they are smaller than anyone is boys basketball (Central Mass in basketball contains some schools from the East that they moved over, Framingham being one of them).
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Post by hc87 on Jan 11, 2019 12:28:55 GMT -5
Has Central Mass. (or the Wachusset district anyway) grown a lot in population ovah the last 30, 40 years...relative to the rest of the state anyway? I know the "Hockomock" towns of say Franklin, Mansfield, Wrentham etc have exploded (mainly due to the construction of 495 in the 1980s) in population since i was in high school in the early 1980s.
I was shocked that those towns of Wachusset would have a HS the size it is.
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Post by gks on Jan 11, 2019 12:31:32 GMT -5
Has Central Mass. (or the Wachusset district anyway) grown a lot in population ovah the last 30, 40 years...relative to the rest of the state anyway? I know the "Hockomock" towns of say Franklin, Mansfield, Wrentham etc have exploded (mainly due to the construction of 495 in the 1980s) in population since i was in high school in the early 1980s. I was shocked that those towns of Wachusset would have a HS the size it is. Holden is the bulk of the school. Believe the town is now in the range of 17-18K for population. Shrewsbury is growing very rapidly as is Algonquin Regional High School (Northborough/Southborough). Most schools in Central Mass grew rapidly about 10 years ago then flattened out. Now the growth is back.
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Post by timholycross on Jan 11, 2019 14:08:43 GMT -5
No question 495's finalization in the early 80s changed a lot of things; and another area that has grown a lot are the towns along Route 3 (Duxbury, Marshfield, Plymouth, Carver, Kingston). Plus, very few people lived on the Cape year-round until the 70s or later.
I know the MIAA is studying reorganizing the tournaments in many sports and geography/accessibility is part of that.
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Post by CHC8485 on Jan 11, 2019 15:14:42 GMT -5
Think you have to look at what's happened to the population in the central Mass Catholic Schools - to understand potential growth in the public school population.
Pretty sure St. John Shrewsbury is thriving, but not so sure about any of the others. Recall seeing a study recently showing enrollment in Catholic HS in the Worcester Diocese down 33% in the last 10 years or so (~3600 in 2007 about 2400 this year).
That may partially reflect a decline in school age population, but not completely. I'm sure many more parents in the district today are choosing Wachusett Regional HS over spending to send their kids to Catholic High School, in part because they don't value the Cathoic part of the education as much as their parents did and in part because you can send your kid to a well regard high school and save the cash for College.
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Post by Tom on Jan 11, 2019 15:26:14 GMT -5
Has Central Mass. (or the Wachusset district anyway) grown a lot in population ovah the last 30, 40 years...relative to the rest of the state anyway? I know the "Hockomock" towns of say Franklin, Mansfield, Wrentham etc have exploded (mainly due to the construction of 495 in the 1980s) in population since i was in high school in the early 1980s. I was shocked that those towns of Wachusset would have a HS the size it is. Some of the towns have grown. Some have been pretty constant. When I was high school age, I think Wachusett had about 2000 kids, so that is not an overwhelming growth. However, it was smaller than that 15 years ago. I think even though there are more households, there are fewer kids per household than there used to be.
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Post by thecrossisback on Jan 11, 2019 22:24:38 GMT -5
Wachusett has over 2,000 kids. My class had around 550 in 2017 My sisters class has over 600 this year as a senior. The town of Holden is the biggest followed by the other 4 towns Rutland, Sterling, Paxton and Princeton.
The school is growing because new neighborhoods are growing in these areas. Similar to my family many have moved out of Worcester and to Holden or Rutland. Mostly for the schools so they do not have to pay to go to middle and high catholic schools.
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Post by rgs318 on Jan 12, 2019 8:44:37 GMT -5
"...high Catholic schools"? Must be the legalization of recreational pot.
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Post by timholycross on Jan 13, 2019 11:12:21 GMT -5
Think you have to look at what's happened to the population in the central Mass Catholic Schools - to understand potential growth in the public school population. Pretty sure St. John Shrewsbury is thriving, but not so sure about any of the others. Recall seeing a study recently showing enrollment in Catholic HS in the Worcester Diocese down 33% in the last 10 years or so (~3600 in 2007 about 2400 this year). That may partially reflect a decline in school age population, but not completely. I'm sure many more parents in the district today are choosing Wachusett Regional HS over spending to send their kids to Catholic High School, in part because they don't value the Cathoic part of the education as much as their parents did and in part because you can send your kid to a well regard high school and save the cash for College. It's a difficult choice for sure. The bare bones places have to charge somewhere in the 8-10K range a year; the places with more amenities are close to 20 (can't imagine what a St. Sebastian's is relative to those). And, yes, the choices are shrinking. The less schools of that type there are, the more chances one will have to send their child a considerable distance to attend; and a lot of parents don't want that inconvenience.
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