What could B-P do with $1M? The culinary program is about to find out.

TAUNTON — Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School just got a big boost in funding for its culinary arts program.

Superintendent Alexandre Magalhaes said a $1 million grant awarded to the school via the Baker-Polito administration’s Skills Capital Grant initiative will go a long way toward outfitting B-P with a state-of-the-art culinary arts facility as part of the new school building project approved by voters earlier this year.

The $1 million represents a drop in the bucket in the estimated $305 million price tag for B-P's new school building and campus, on track to open in 2026, but Magalhaes said the money will be put to good use and help fund new equipment and expanded programming and help defray construction costs related to continually increasing prices for goods and services in the post-pandemic economy.

“We're excited to receive such a large grant for our culinary arts program,” Magalhaes said. “This will allow our students to learn in an industry-standard facility and work on industry-standard equipment, and it will also support some of the funding of the new building.

“With costs continuing to go up right now, this will surely help.”

New opportunities for students

Currently, B-P has about 100 students enrolled in the culinary arts program, with room for 15-20 students per class. Magalhaes said the new school building project is not geared to a large overall increase in enrollment, and the new culinary arts facility, with some help from the grant money, should be able to accommodate four, maybe five more students per class.

The school currently has about 1,300 students enrolled, and the new building is designed to accommodate a modest increase of about 100 students, for a maximum of 1,400 students.

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Magalhaes says the grant money will also be used to increase and improve offerings in the area of adult-evening classes, continuing education and summer programs for middle school students.

“The school that will be built, it's only designed for 100 more students than we have now. So our programs are going to increase slightly, but not a whole lot,” he said.

Magalhaes says the new culinary facility, which will include an all-new Silver Platter Restaurant, the school’s student-run, open-to-the-public dining establishment, will be suited to increase learning and training in the kitchen and front-of-house operations.

“The way it's designed we will be able to do a lot more hospitality skills,” Magalhaes says.

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Magalhaes says there will be more opportunities for kids to work in the bakery and pastry arts, as space and training is currently somewhat limited in those disciplines. And  the Silver Platter students will continue to gain real-world skills in terms of overall restaurant and hospitality operations.

“So there are areas that we can increase training and have more hands-on opportunities than we have right now.”

Funding new equipment

While the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will fund $125 million of the overall $305 million budget, most of that funding goes to construction of the building structure and campus, leaving a small percentage for furnishing and equipment. Schools in the vocational and technical category require increased funding levels for specific equipment across a range of vocational/technical programs.

Grant money helps.

“And that's one of the reasons why we are pushing for as many grants as we can. Any grants that are out there, we're going to apply and see what we can get,” Magalhaes said.

“MSBA gives you a very small percentage for furnishing, but in our case, it’s more furnishing and equipment, and it would never meet the need here, it goes above what the state is offering because our equipment is so expensive," he said.

"Although, you know, we have good equipment that we will move into the new building, but there's also some equipment that has been here with us since early on in the building, and our culinary arts program has had a lot of the same equipment for many years.”

No specifics yet

Magalhaes says planning and design for the new culinary arts space has started, though few specifics are available to date.

“Right now, we're actually having the space kind of drawn out already and it's been looked at by our staff, our instructors, as well as our school building committee, to have an opportunity to look at it to make sure it meets the needs of industry as well as the education of our students,” he said.

He said it is too early to say just where the $1 million in grant funding will be directed, but in keeping with the continuing commitment to keep costs down the money would be put to good use and serve as a boon to culinary arts students in the years ahead.

“We take pride in what we do here with culinary arts offerings and in our restaurant,” Magahlaes said. “The kids do a great job with the food and the pastries and so forth, and running the restaurant. So we're very proud of the work they do and to have the customers that come in so they can showcase their talents.

“So I think we can just expand on that, and we’re looking forward to continue our excellence in that department and provide new opportunities for students.”

Magalhaes also credited the Baker-Polito administration with supporting vocational/technical education in the state.

“Throughout their tenure they've always supported career technical education. So, we appreciate those efforts and recognizing the need,” Magalhaes said.

According to a written statement, the award was announced by the Baker-Polito administration Sept. 27 during an event to announce recipients of the latest round of funding from the Skills Capital Grant program at Westfield Technical Academy.

“Since taking office, our administration has made significant investments through the Skills Capital Grant program to help more young people and adults gain the education, training and skills necessary for successful careers in rapidly growing industry sectors,” Gov. Charlie Baker said at the event. “We are proud of the impact these grants have had on both students’ educations and their futures in the Massachusetts workforce.”

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito added: “As a result of the Skills Capital Grants, high schools, colleges and other educational institutions have modernized how students learn and provided crucial experiential learning that serves students and employers well. We appreciate the continued support of our partners in the Legislature, and we look forward to the continued growth and expansion of hands-on, career technical education programs made possible by Skills Capital Grants.”

Taunton Daily Gazette staff writer Jon Haglof can be reached at jhaglof@tauntongazette.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton: Bristol-Plymouth high school culinary program awarded $1M