MAVA Colleagues,
We are excited to share this piece from “The Tewksbury Town Crier” as a $1M donation is accepted to expand the Shawsheen Tech Electrical Program!!
David
$1M donation approved to expand Shawsheen Tech electrical program
<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>By Paige Impink News Correspondent Mar 7, 2026
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<![endif]>BILLERICA — Shaw?sheen Valley Technical High School officials have been approached with a transformative $1 million private donation that would fund a major expansion and modernization of the school’s highly sought-af?ter electrical program.
The proposal was presented at the Feb. 24 School Committee meeting by John Bagni, the school’s Construction Department head and lead electrical instructor. Bagni has taught at Shawsheen for 25 years.
According to Bagni, the electrical program has con?sistently been one of the most popular at the school. Out of approximately 340 students, about 12 percent select electrical as their top exploratory choice each year, with roughly 30 percent ranking it among their top three shops.
The program has 52 students sharing shop space each week in an area de?signed decades ago for just 30 participants.
Despite the tight quarters, outcomes remain strong. Bagni said more than 90 percent of seniors secure co-op placements, and gra?duates remain competitive in the workforce. Students regularly place in the top three at district competitions and have earned gold and silver medals at state and national SkillsUSA events.
“We’re not looking to add more students,” Bagni emphasized. “We’re trying to give the students we al?ready have the space they need to learn safely and effectively.”
The donor is Emanuel Landsman, founder of Am?erican Power Conversion, the global uninterruptible power supply company later acquired by Schnei?der Electric of Andover.
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<![endif]>Bagni described Lands?man, a former MIT professor, as a long-time supporter of the electrical program who has hired Shawsheen students for co-op placements.
While discussing the program’s space limitations, Landsman surprised Bag?ni.
“He said, ‘What if I give you a million dollars to build it?’” Bagni recalled. “I was flabbergasted.”
After more than a year of legal review to ensure the district could accept the private gift, Landsman’s charitable trust identified a pathway that would al?low the donation to move forward in compliance with municipal regulations.
Plans call for a 2,800-square-foot standalone buil?ding, approximately 40 by 70 feet, constructed behind the existing electrical and plumbing shops.
Disciplines taught in the new facility would include solar power generation, battery energy storage systems, microgrid training systems, electric vehicle charging stations, and ad?vanced lighting and energy control systems.
Bagni said the building would be designed to be fully self-sufficient, generating its own electricity via rooftop solar panels and on-site battery storage. Radiant floor heating is also planned.
“There will be no electricity bill, no heating bill,” Bagni said. “It’ll all be done internally.”
Students in the construction, electrical, plumbing, and masonry programs would build much of the structure themselves as a hands-on educational project, significantly reducing labor costs. Construction could begin next school year, with completion targeted for the following academic year.
School Committee members raised questions about long-term operating costs, staffing, safety, and oversight of the funds.
Bagni said no additional instructors would be re?quired. The current electrical shop would be renovated after the move, doubling workstation sizes and allowing students to work on larger, longer-term projects without dismantling them weekly due to space constraints.
Bagni said the program would become “a state-of-the-art electricity learning center” unlike any other vocational program in the region.
If future plans for a new school building proceed, administrators said the standalone structure could later be repurposed as a facilities or maintenance building, ensuring it would not interfere with long-term district planning.
Committee members al?so discussed establishing a dedicated account for the donation to ensure transparency and compliance with procurement laws.
“This is not only a tribute to Mr. Landsman’s in?credible generosity,” mem?ber Brian O’Donnell said, “it’s a tribute to you and your colleagues and all the kids that have made such a positive impression on him over the years.”
The committer made a formal motion to accept the $1 million donation.
Chapter 74 Vocational Technical & Agricultural Education
LEARNING THAT WORKS FOR MASSACHUSETTS
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
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