The News Journal WCHS designated area career technology education center – The News Journal

Thanks in part to its new designation as an official local area career technology education center, Whitley County High School is hoping to expand the number of career pathways that it is offering for students.

In other words, the school district is hoping that this will further lead to an increase in programs where students can receive training while in high school that will result in a possible career in a trade field.

Currently 11 teachers are teaching 13 career pathways, and plans are in place to increase that by two additional teachers and two additional career pathways over the next 12 to 24 months, Principal Julie Osborne told the Whitley County Board of Education during its monthly meeting Thursday.

Osborne noted that over the last few years one of the points the high school has worked on is helping students become certified to enter the workforce upon graduation.

The high school recently added the welding career pathway, and is planning to add carpentry and electricity career pathways.

“These will be two additional certified pathways where students can enter with industry certifications immediately into the workforce,” Osborne said.

In order to increase those opportunities, the school district applied to be a local area technology center.

“The great thing about is that is it opens some funding doors to increase these opportunities and accessibility at this location for the students at Whitley County High School,” Osborne said.

Ultimately, being a career technology education center will bring with it some funding access, either in the form of lump sum dollars for programs or facilities when new pathways are started and/or help to support the teaching salaries of the teachers in those pathways.

The first year a new career pathway is opened, the state would pay 100 percent of those salaries, and then 75 percent of those salaries in the years after that.

“It is very promising for sure,” Osborne added.

Currently, Whitley County High School’s area career technology education center is unfunded, but it is on the list to get funded hopefully in the near future by the Kentucky General Assembly, noted Whitley County Superintendent John Siler.

“We are really excited about this,” added Siler. “We have that title now so in the future, when that funding becomes available, it may give us the opportunity to grow more trades here.”

In other business during Thursday’s meeting, the board:

• Recognized Whitley County High School Nurse Missy Lawson with the September Above and Beyond Award.

• Approve the 2021-2022 working budget. Siler noted that the state requires districts to have at least a 2 percent contingency fund, but Whitley County’s contingency fund is about 3.5 percent, which is a little more than it was at this point last year.

• Approved the purchase of three 78-passenger rear engine buses, and one 72-passener conventional bus.

The district currently has about 60 bus routes that are run each school day, and Siler noted that the bus purchase is part of the district’s effort to keep bus fleet safe and updated. The district also maintains about eight substitute buses.

“Again, we want to keep our kids as safe as possible,” he said.

Siler estimated that the total bus purchase price would be about $470,000 for the four new buses. While the district is purchasing the buses now, they are not expected to arrive before the end of the school year.

Money to purchase the new buses was built into this year’s working budget.

• Approved roof repair work at Whitley County Middle School, which is expected to total about $933,869. In the summer of 2020, the school got a new HVAC system, and a portion of the roof was replaced at that time. Siler said this new work would largely allow for a mostly new roof to be installed on the building.

It is uncertain when the roof replacement will start.

• Approved a memorandum with Eastern Kentucky University so that student teachers could do their observation hours and student teaching at Whitley County schools. The district has similar agreements in place with the University of the Cumberlands, Union College, and other colleges and universities.

Siler noted that it is wildly known there is a teacher shortage, and this gives the district to the opportunity to get perspective new teachers in their buildings and evaluate them.

“It’s a win for the students. It’s a win for the school district,” he added.

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