The “Diman dream” is now a reality. The result is a sterling new vocational high school — “the newest, greatest, and best” in the Commonwealth — that will welcome the incoming class of 2030, and upperclassmen, on the first day of school on Sept. 3. 

 

From a lofty idea to a brisk November 2023 groundbreaking, to Aug. 21, 2026, when Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School administrators and community members, flanked by architects, project managers, state agencies, and local delegates, chopped a bright orange ribbon, a “new beginning” has materialized.

 

Diman Superintendent Brian Bentley reminded a lobby filled with staff, teachers, students, supporters, and committee members that it all started with a question: “Would you support a new Diman?” From there, he told the story of a “powerful” grassroots campaign that grew into an ad hoc School Building Committee and eventually garnered the support of the Massachusetts School Building Authority in 2018. It received Diman School Committee approval along with the commitment of local Fall River, Somerset, Swansea, and Westport taxpayers.

 

Calling the new Diman “a truly magnificent building,” Bentley called on several speakers, including Massachusetts Secretary of Education Stephen Zrike Jr., and MSBA Executive Director Mary Pichetti. Behind the podium, the weather-stained brick of the old Diman drew a stark comparison to the “transformative investment” Zrike said, that hosted the ribbon-cutting and subsequent tour. 

 

Pichetti said the new state-of-the-art school is outfitted for energy efficiency and is designed to reduce operating costs while offering students a “top-notch, hands-on education.” Pichetti acknowledged that vocational students studying relevant trades were involved in the build.