Long Island High School for the Arts has three new career and technical programs for students in Nassau and Suffolk. (Photo: Long Island High School for the Arts)

Career and tech programs coming to High School for the Arts

March 1, 2020 The Long Island Times

The New York State Education Department has approved three new career and technical programs for the Long Island High School for the Arts in Syosset.

The new programs — Performing Arts, Visual and Media Arts, and Production and Managerial Arts — will likely increase the school’s enrollment and keep school districts from denying students’ requests to attend the arts school.

LIHSA students would graduate with technical diplomas after they complete a two-year course in one of the newly approved programs.

Founded in 1973, the arts school currently has 127 students, but it has had trouble attracting a larger enrollment since many districts don’t want to pay the additional $15,125 per student tuition the school charges.

However, the new technical and career programs will make it more difficult for school districts that don’t offer such programs to refuse to send students to the Nassau BOCES-run arts school.

Chris Bleecker, LIHSA’s principal, says the new programs will level the playing field when it comes to students seeking to enroll in the Syosset arts school.

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