[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...&TM=46563.9

Smith Center could need $11 million in retrofitting

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

Career schooling helps to fill skilled labor force, officials stress.

MICHIGAN CITY - In 1950, 60 percent of jobs in the United States were filled, or could be filled, by unskilled labor, 20 percent by skilled labor and 20 percent by professionals.

In 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65 percent of jobs were filled, or could be filled, by skilled labor and 15 percent by unskilled labor. The figures for professionals did not change: 20 percent.

Michigan City Area Schools Superintendent Michael Harding highlighted those numbers for the school board at a recent board meeting.

One place where students can get some skills needed to succeed in the real world is the A.K. Smith Career Center. It is home to a variety of programs, including culinary arts, cosmetology, health care, welding and auto repair.

But if the A.K. Smith Career Center is to meet community needs for career and technical training, it could require as much as $11 million in retrofitting, Harding told the board.

Board member Jeff Jones, an administrator at Indiana University-South Bend, said he has some doubts about whether working with the old A.K. Smith building would be the most efficient move.

Harding believes such a center will take the cooperation of the whole community's participation, including city officials and the private sector.

"If people think for one minute this is just a school issue, they are very much mistaken," Harding said.

He went on to emphasize that by citing a USA Today article that says high school students have an inflated view of their abilities or employers have unreasonable expectations. For example, 66 percent of students say they are capable of working in diverse groups while 13 percent of employers say they are; 57 percent of students say they have sufficient written communication skills while employers say only 6 percent do; 62 percent of students say they have the basic math skills necessary to enter the world of work but just 8 percent of employers say they do.

In La Porte County, Harding said, 50 percent of high school graduates go to college, but 50 percent of those return home after one year. Of the graduating seniors, 75 percent were in the community within one year of graduation.

Some ultimately return to school, either at Purdue North Central or Ivy Tech Community College, but the majority need jobs.

One of the specific results of Strategy Four of the Michigan City Area Schools' Strategic Plan is to "provide students the opportunity to establish a career path unique to their individual needs."

Beginning in preschool, Harding said, students should be exposed to a wide variety of careers.

Claudia Drayton, coordinator of career and technical education, explained the difference. Technical education, she said, is driven by community work force development needs and economic development.

Career programs focus on the development of a specific area or vocation or trade through a post-secondary education. Early college and middle college programs can serve the needs of both career and technical education.

According to the Early College Foundation, early college high schools are "small schools from which students leave with not only a high school diploma but also an associate's degree or two years of college credit.

Middle college high schools, however, are secondary schools located on college campuses across the country educating under-served students who have the potential to benefit from a rigorous academic curriculum offered within a supportive and nurturing environments.

Michigan City High School is not an early college program, but it does offer students the opportunity to take college-credit courses that also fit into the high school curriculum.

Probably the closest middle college program is located at Truman College, one of the City of Chicago colleges.

Many communities open their career and technical programs to students in sixth grade to their college years and to adults who have been displaced or are in need of additional training for their present jobs.



Contact Deborah Sederberg at dsederberg@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Roger Kaputnik]

Before we tear down AKSmith and build some new building, MH, let's get our schools off probation, let's make sure all students can read, and let's find you a new job.