Hutchinson Central Technical High School, informally known as Hutch-Tech, is a high school in the City of Buffalo, New York. Its founding on September 14, 1904 under the name Mechanics Arts High School marked the beginning of technical education on the secondary level in the city of Buffalo. The current principal is Gabrielle Morchequo, and the current assistant principals are Daniel Zack, Gregory Stefanone, and Pedro Estrada.
Video Hutchinson Central Technical High School
History
The school was first housed in the then Elementary School No. 11 on Elm Street near Clinton Street. Dr. Daniel Upton, the founder of the school and its first principal, began operations with a faculty of four teachers and a pupil registration of sixty-four.
In September 1905, the school's name was changed to Technical High School, pending the move to a new building to be built on Cedar Street and Clinton Ave; the cornerstone was laid on November 14, 1912. The Cedar Street building opened on July 14, 1918 with an enrollment of 1009 students, 863 boys and 146 girls. It offered evening classes, the first of its kind in Buffalo at the time.
The program of studies at Technical High School differed from that of other Buffalo high schools, in its introduction of Industrial Chemistry Machine Design, Engineering College Preparatory, Electrical, Commercial Art and Building Design and Construction to the program of the high school at this point.
The school received a charter from the Regents of the State of New York (now the New York State Education Department) under the name Technical High School of Buffalo in 1918, and remained in this building until 1954. In the spring of 1921, Tech began issuing entrance exams and became what is now known as a magnet school, even though with its course load it would normally fall into the classification of a vocational-technical school. That practice still continues today to help select classes, which now consist of roughly 200-300 students.
The school was in great demand during its forty years of instruction at this location. Most of Technical High School's equipment was transferred to the building formerly occupied by Hutchinson Central High School. This building, located at South Elmwood Avenue and Chippewa Street, was completely renovated, remodeled and repainted. It is located within the boundaries of the West Village Historic District.
Hutch-Tech was one of the world's first high schools with a digital computer, acquiring an IBM 1620 (Level C) in 1961. This computer, with 20,000 BCD words of memory, was quite advanced for the time, and classes were taught in assembly language, symbolic programming, Fortran, COBOL, and numerical analysis. Many Hutch-Tech graduates from the 1960s became pioneers in computing. Perhaps the best known of these is astronomer and computer security expert Clifford Stoll.
Hutch-Tech also offers a selection of college prep courses including Advanced Placement that both helped their major, and helped them meet their general education requirements that most colleges require. The courses include AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature and Composition, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, and AP United States History.
At the end of the 2010 School Year, David Greco retired after nearly fifteen years of service as head administrator at Hutch-Tech, and nearly twenty-five years as a history teacher, and administrator elsewhere, including Bennett High School, Buffalo Traditional, and others. This is five years later than his original retirement date of 2005, but Greco made a promise to see the renovations through, and see the students back to the building on South Elmwood. Greco's successor was Sabatino Cimato.
Former principals
Previous assignment and reason for departure denoted in parentheses
- Daniel Upton-1904-1909 (Teacher - Mechanic Arts High School, named Principal of State Normal School in Buffalo)
- Author S. Harrell-1909-1916 (unknown, named Assistant Superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools)
- David H. Childs-1916-1935
- Richard R. Dry-1935-1946 (Vice Principal - Hutchinson Central Technical High School, unknown)
- Mr. C. Gordon Ryther-1946-1947 (Vice Principal - Hutchinson Central Technical High School, returned to VP post)
- Martin H. Kuehn-1947-1959 (unknown, died)
- Ernest Zeferjahn-1960-1971 (unknown, retired)
- Russell Guest [interim]-1971 (Assistant Principal - Hutchinson Central Technical High School, retired)
- Martin J. O'Donnell-1971-1974 (Principal - Grover Cleveland High School, retired)
- Anthony D. Vetrano-1974-1986 (Principal - Fillmore Middle School, named Director of Vocational Education for Buffalo Public Schools)
- Joseph Gentile-1986-1994 (unknown, named Principal of Clarence High School)
- David M. Greco-1994-2010 (Principal - Buffalo Traditional School, retired)
- Sabatino Cimato-2010-2015 (Principal - North Park Academy, named Associate Superintendent in Charge of Leadership of Buffalo Public Schools)
- Holly Doskocz-2017 (Became first alumnist to become Principal)
Maps Hutchinson Central Technical High School
Accomplishments
Hutchinson Central Technical High School was honored as a National School of Excellence in 1988-1989 by the U.S. Department of Education. In 1996, Redbook Magazine cited HCTHS as one of the top 150 high schools in the country.
In October 2005, the New York Civil Liberties Union successfully pressured the school to release students from their mandatory Junior ROTC program, arguing that the practice violates the State's Education Law, which provides that no child may be enrolled in JROTC without prior written parental consent. In the end, Greco did release the student in question, and all others, but not without the attention of the local media. WGRZ, the local NBC broadcast channel, carried the story, as did the local publication Artvoice.
In 2009, Hutchinson Central Technical High School was ranked 86th out of 131 Western New York high schools in terms of academic performance.
In the 2011 U.S. News and World Report analysis of United States Best High Schools, Hutch Tech received a Bronze Star for exceeding state performance in its Poverty-Adjusted Performance Index, and greatly exceeding overall state average performance by its disadvantaged students. The school's college readiness score prevented receiving a higher ranking.
Notable alumni
- Harold Arlen, Academy Award-winning composer, wrote the music for "Over the Rainbow" from the The Wizard of Oz
- Michael Bennett, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning choreographer (Attended for 2 years)
- Charles Clough, painter
- Wallace E. Cunningham, architect
- Chester A. Kowal, Buffalo mayor, 1962-1965
- Stanley M. Makowski, Buffalo mayor, 1974-1977
- Kevin Roberson, basketball player at the University of Vermont
- Frank A. Sedita, Buffalo mayor, 1958-1961, 1966-1973
- Clifford Stoll, astronomer, inventor, computer security expert
- Leonard F. Walentynowicz, Assistant Secretary of State, 1975-1977
References
External links
- Official site
- Official Alumni Association
- Official History 1904-1990
- NYS Accountability and Overview Report for HCTHS 2008 - 2009
- NYS Comprehensive Information Report for HCTHS 2008 - 2009
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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