ATTLEBORO - Attleboro High School's career and technical education program is looking to new vistas in training students to fill jobs in the changing service economy.

The school, which is implementing new vocational programs in health assisting and engineering, is looking to plumbing and communications technology as two possible future programs, said Career and Technical Education Director Terry Gayton.

"We're in an exploratory phase at this point," said Gayton, who added that the two new vocational areas are being assessed for their potential to serve students and fill an area demand.

School officials are examining existing programs at other schools as well as surveying the need for workers.

Starting a new career program would probably take four to five years, Gayton said. Gayton said many workers in the plumbing trades are mature employees who will one day retire, creating the need for additional tradesmen.

Plumbing, should it be identified as a priority for future expansion at the high school, would be a good fit because the school already offers training programs in other building trades, including electricity, construction and welding, Gayton said.

Similarly, he said a program in communications and media arts technology could piggyback on academic programs the school already offers, ranging from journalism classes to graphic communications. The school already has its own cable TV studio.

Both the health assisting and engineering programs, launched over the past two years, are being well received by students and parents, Gayton said.

The health assisting class has its own health care laboratory, and serves 100 students in five classroom sections. The school has had to turn away 40 to 50 prospective students because enrollment was at capacity.

In the newer engineering program, 200 students have already attended exploratory programs, and one section of students is enrolled in the introductory class.

The next step is to build a laboratory space for student engineers, which will eventually be located in the school's old machine shop.

The school is working on an application for state funding for the health professions area, which could dramatically increase state assistance for that aspect of education.

Gayton said the school is also looking to work jointly with Bristol Community College to make available college level programs that provide a follow-on to students' high school training and lead ultimately to associate or bachelor degree programs.

RICK FOSTER can be reached at 508-236-0360 or at rfoster@thesunchronicle.com.