Lenape vo-tech head hopes strong bond will continue with the school districts it serves

School officials are hoping the solid bonds the Freeport Area School District has with the Lenape Vocational School continue.

Wesley P. Kuchta, Lenape’s new administrative director, spoke before the school board Wednesday night and emphasized the success Freeport Area students have had at Lenape.

“It’s important that superintendents and I have a lot of dialogue,” Kuchta said. “I want to talk about the opportunities students from Freeport have with us. Our achievement test scores are just under 90 percent, and we are evaluated by industry professionals.”

As an example, students who are taking law enforcement classes are graded by active police officers and representatives from the district attorney’s office.

Kuchta brought along two Lenape students who reside within the Freeport Area School District.

Glen Spath is a pre-engineering student and would like to get a college degree in mechanical engineering later on.

Abby Pervis is taking bio-medical technical training and would eventually like to be an oncology nurse.

Kuchta said he wanted to debunk the myth that students from schools like Lenape must go directly into industry.

“About 48 percent of our students go to a post-secondary school,” said Kuchta, a Highlands High School graduate.

Later, the school board voted to elect its president, Daniel Lucovich, to the Lenape Technical School Joint Operating Board presidency and Leechburg Area School Board member Anthony Shea as vice president.

Lenape serves students from the Freeport Area, Leechburg Area, Apollo-Ridge and Armstrong school districts.

George Guido is a freelance writer.