School leaders working to streamline career and technical education
Sports medicine, broadcast journalism, architectural design and marketing are all classes currently offered or soon to be offered at Vestavia Hills City Schools, offering students a chance to explore career opportunities before they graduate.
In an effort to prepare students for either higher education or the workforce, school leaders, spearheaded by Antonio Cooper, director of curriculum and instruction, are working to streamline classes into “clusters,” designed to help students find what they enjoy, potentially partner with local businesses for internships and, in some cases, offer college credit or work certifications.
The school system applied for a state waiver from Career Prep A and B, a state requirement for graduation, so students have other options to study career and technical education, Cooper said at the Feb. 24 Board of Education meeting.
Cooper said the school system is working on potentially offering college credits for some classes, and each career pathway offers students the chance to earn certification in a certain field.
Clusters include business management and administration, health science, marketing, finance, architecture and construction, human services or hospitality and tourism, sports medicine and others. In the 2021-22 school year, Cooper said he hopes to make it possible for the school system to offer an entrepreneurship class that will allow students to start their own business while in high school and get investors.
The school district also plans to partner with local businesses to come and teach, as well as to offer internships. Those businesses include Shipt and America’s First Federal Credit Union, and the district already partners with the Academy of Craft Training, which prepares students to enter the workforce upon graduation in fields like HVAC, welding and others.
The district recently partnered with the Onin Group, which has a “Ready to Work” initiative, which provides high school seniors with training for different job sectors and then matches them with potential employers.
Cooper said he’s also working to expand these career and technical classes to middle- and elementary-school students.
In other news, the board approved several owner-architect agreements with Lathan Associates, which do not authorize the spending of any monies, only the design of projects that might be done in the future.
At the new Pizitz Middle School, the board approved an agreement to begin design on replacing the track surface, which has an expected budget of $300,000. The track will be a welcome addition to the system, Superintendent Todd Freeman said, but needs some work.
At Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge, agreements were approved to design the restoration and improvements to the football field behind the school, as well as the demolition and replacement of the canopy, which is not long enough to keep students out of the rain, and to get cars stacked in queues during carpool. Those projects have an expected budget of $150,000 and $100,000, respectively.
A change order increasing the cost of the renovation at Pizitz was approved, in the amount of $58,668. The money will go toward punch list items, Assistant Superintendent Patrick Martin said, such as creating an ADA-compliant swing, ensuring adequate electricity goes to receptacles, making sure bricks are insulated and others.
In other business, the board:
- Approved an agreement with Schneider Electric to complete an investment grade audit at school facilities in an effort to lower energy costs.
- Approved a lease-purchase agreement to purchase three buses.
- Approved the parent-student handbook for the 2020-21 school year.
- Approved the financial statement and various consent and personnel items.
The board went into executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss matters of commerce or trade.