Lance Wrzesinski from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction discusses developments for Career and Technical Education at the state level.
With financial support from the Centralia Community Foundation, Centralia School District is making strides to prepare its students for the workforce.
The district plans to hire two new career counselors this spring — one full time at the high school and the other part time at the middle school. They will both start in the fall.
“Our responsibility is not just for students to come every day and then send them home,” said Superintendent Mark Davalos. “We want to get a sense of who they are, what their strengths are and make preparations that will help them for life beyond the twelfth grade. Some of our textbooks, even as early as kindergarten, talk about jobs.”
The TransAlta Centralia Coal Transition Grants Economic and Community Development Board awarded Centralia Community Foundation (CCF) a $2 million grant last November. CCF will use the money to support programs in the Centralia School District.
Before the Centralia School District Board of Directors met Wednesday evening, Career and Technical Education Director James Bowers led an hour-long tour of the CTE programs at Centralia High School. Members of CCF; a representative from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; the founder of The BERC Group, a consultant working with the district; Port of Centralia Commissioner Peter Lahmann and others interested in the high school’s CTE programs attended the tour.
The tour included eight different programs that focused on practical skills. Teachers from each of the programs fielded questions from the tour group, many of which focused on the educators’ biggest challenges.
Photography teacher Peter Kendall said his biggest challenge is that there isn’t enough dedicated space. Ideally, he wants two rooms — one for instruction with the computers and one for a lab. Currently, the classroom and lab are in the same space, referred to as the “octagon.”
Mitchell Smith, who teachers construction, has seven students who qualify for the national SkillsUSA competition this year. Smith said he has connections with contractors and unions who are interested in hiring his students.
“Kids who want jobs get them,” Mitchell said.
Other programs on the tour included business education, robotics club, welding, agriculture, sports medicine, food and fitness and teen parenting.
The School Board meeting predominantly focused on CTE.
During the meeting, Davalos discussed Centralia School District’s partnership with CCF.
“This is a community that cares,” Davalos said of both CCF and Centralia. “They are very active and engaged.”
During the meeting, Davalos invited members from CCF to address the audience. Tim Browning, who is on the Board of Directors and the education committee chair, said a few years ago leaders in the community took a hard look at the economy and people’s lives in Centralia. He said it became clear the private sectors should make a financial commitment to support school programs.
Presentations to the Board regarding CTE included one from Lance Wrzesinski, business and marketing program supervisor for the CTE program at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the CTE report from CTE Director James Bowers and the BERC report from The BERC Group Founder and President Duane Baker. CCF brought in The BERC Group, which is an independent evaluation, research and consulting team.
Wrzesinski said the state is looking for a clearer definition of basic education.
“We are short a lot of workers for things that need to be done in our society,” Wrzesinski said. “If you aren’t preparing them (students) for industry demand, what are we preparing them for?”
Port of Centralia Commissioner Peter Lahmann and TransAlta Centralia Coal Transition Grants Economic and Community Development Board Member Bob Guenther addressed the board as well.
