Weymouth runs weighted lottery to allocate 200 CTE seats after 326 applications

Weymouth Public Schools officials recorded a virtual drawing to allocate 200 seats in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs for the 2027 school year after receiving 326 applications, district staff said.

Samuel DePena, director of career and technical education and cooperative education at Weymouth High School, said the district is using a Department of Education–aligned weighted lottery when applicants exceed available seats. "All applicants receive 1 base entry for application," DePena said, noting attendance and discipline records add additional entries so "in total, you could receive either 1, 2, or 3 entries into the admission category." DePena said the drawing determines eligibility for admission to the CTE exploratory program, not placement into a specific shop.

Julie Magnosa, administrative assistant for the CTE program, said the district received 326 applications and that 200 students will be admitted. "We received 326 applications for the CTE program this year. We have 200 available seats," Magnosa said. She added that admitted students and those placed on the wait list will be notified by email the same day and that the district will post results on the Weymouth Public Schools website.

Assistant Superintendent Lindsay Fratt described the middle school outreach that prepares students to apply and said attendance and discipline data were verified through official records. She said families were allowed to submit appeals before finalizing the data and that the appeal process is complete.

DePena said the district ran the lottery using a district-approved processing application that randomized anonymized WHS codes and ticket ranks to produce a ranked selection and a wait list for transparency. He thanked district and school staff for their support and offered Portuguese-language assistance for families who need help understanding the results.

Next steps: the district will email admitted and wait-listed families, post the anonymized results on the Weymouth Public Schools website and follow up individually with families who have questions.