Sussex Tech school board plans cuts

More than 1,700 people have signed an online petition opposing cuts that the Sussex County Technical School Board of Education will discuss at its meeting Thursday, April 18.

The board will meet at 4 p.m. in the high school auditorium, 105 N. Church Road.

The petition, on the website change.org, was started by Charles Hudson, a senior in the graphics shop at Sussex Tech.

The board’s plan to eliminate the school’s programs in architectural technology, graphic communications and theater arts would affect dozens of students, Hudson said. “These dozens of kids are being robbed of their shop and likely will be unable to graduate from Tech.”

He pointed out that the three shops offer students opportunities unrivaled by most other schools in the tri-state area.

“Graphics, for example, has you graduate with three official certifications from Adobe, recognized by all employers and colleges. Theater is almost required to get a job in the career. Architecture allows these kids to gain the knowledge and certification to advance in such a competitive field.”

The meeting agenda says the superintendent recommended the cuts “for reasons of efficiency and economy.” The cuts, which would be effective July 1, would result in the loss of two employees.

Jessica Nicole Majtczak, a freshman in architecture, wrote a letter to Superintendent Gus Modla and other administrators, saying, “The architecture shop was not just a room to me; but instead a space where I had discovered my passion, where I learned values such as precision, creativity, teamwork. It was a promise of opportunities ... .

“To hear that this shop, this classroom of learning and creativity, will no longer be accessible to myself, my friends and generations to come is like a profound loss.”

She asked them to reconsider the decision to cut the programs.

“These shops were more than just rooms; they were catalysts for creativity, shaping not only our skills, but also our dreams and futures.”