The Bullard-Havens Technical High School in Bridgeport is getting a huge upgrade. On Dec. 1, students will start taking classes at the school’s new building.
“We’re here to celebrate the opening of this beautiful school, a major investment in both CTECS (Connecticut Technical Education and Career Systems) and in the Bridgeport community,” said CTECS Executive Director Alice Pritchard said at a press conference on Nov. 24. “This building is going to provide state of the art learning environments for our students today—well, starting Monday—and for many, many generations to come.”
The new facility is almost 215,000 square feet and costs nearly $200 million to build, according to a press release from Gov. Ned Lamont’s office. It was funded through the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services (DAS).
“This new school feels like a place where we can truly grow,” Caeden Duncan, an 11th-grade criminal justice student, said at the press event. “The spaces are professional, the technology is what we’ll actually use in the field, and it shows that the state believes in us.”
Bullard-Havens trains students for trades including architecture, carpentry, health technology, precision machine technology and criminal justice. Students will graduate with both a diploma and a Career Technical Education certification, according to the school’s website.
As of July, there were 77,000 job openings in Connecticut, according to CBIA’s 2025 Survey of Connecticut Businesses. Throughout the last year, job growth in the state has been stagnant.
CBIA found that 76% of employers report having trouble hiring and retaining qualified workers, “largely due to gaps in qualifications, pay expectations, and Connecticut’s high cost of living.”
“(The new building) is going to strengthen everything Bullard-Havens already does very well, and it’s going to expand opportunities to pursue in-demand, middle-class careers in both this region and across our beautiful state,” Pritchard said.
Bullard-Havens already outperforms other schools in the Bridgeport area. The graduation rate in the Bridgeport School District was only 74% in 2024, according to the most recent district profile from the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE). In contrast, Bullard-Havens has a 97% graduation rate, according to US News.
The Bridgeport School District has been under scrutiny from the CSDE for years now, because of a $39 million deficit, failure to meet educational standards and high rate of leadership turnover. In January, the State Board of Education decided to intervene directly in the school district.
In July, the CSDE released a forensic audit of the school district. The audit found that a lack of board oversight, issues with management communication, and financial transparency caused many of the financial problems in the district.
“This school represents exactly the kind of investment Connecticut needs to remain competitive and support the next generation of skilled workers,” Lamont said at the press event. “Bullard-Havens students will learn in modern, industry-aligned labs and classrooms that match the workplaces they will enter after graduation.”
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Vo-Tech high schools are a great opportunity for students to learn skills that they can actually use in the real world. There is always a large demand for HVAC techs, plumbers & electricians. These are good paying jobs that will never become obsolete.