School Board Tries To Keep Career Academy Alive

SEBRING - Highlands County School Board members said Monday they want to move forward with the Career Academy in some form, even if the first year has a low enrollment.

Through the joint venture with South Florida Community College, the Career Academy would allow students to earn a high school diploma and a certificate or associate's degree in a technical discipline such as computer networking, automotive service technology, medical secretary, cosmetology, computer engineering, culinary arts or electronics.

Rebecca Fleck, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said 101 students applied to the program but only 42 students have at least a 2.0 grade point average and meet specific requirements of the program they selected. Those enrollment numbers are much lower than district officials had hoped.

School Board member Donna Howerton said she recently spoke with officials from Osceola County School Board, which has a similar program. The program started with about 50 students and now has up to 700 students with a waiting list.

School Board member Wally Randall said, based on Osceola County's example, he thinks a group of about 40 would be a good start.

"You are asking high-school kids to be guinea pigs here, and I can understand why they may be reluctant to volunteer," Randall said. "Once this first group goes through it and survives and is successful, I think you will have more people interested."

School board members said next year students involved in the program can help to recruit applicants.
"I think the most effective recruiting we can do is on a one-on-one, kid-to-kid basis," said Superintendent Wally Cox.

School board members said they will explore many options to make the Career Academy possible, such as hiring part-time teachers, opening the program to Hardee County students and creating a hybrid program where students split their time between SFCC and high school campuses. The school district is also still accepting applicants to the Career Academy and is even planning another open house sometime this month.

"The college really wants this to happen, and we want to make this a meaningful experience for students," said Kevin Brown, dean of applied sciences and technology at SFCC. "We know this is a benefit to students and just like when you start a new business, you may need to start on a shoestring budget and progress from there."

John Rousch, coordinator of career and technical education for the school board, said no matter what adjustments to the program are made, the focus should still be on providing not only vocational skills but also applicable core-area academics.

"The most critical component of this program is making content-area teaching relevant to their technical area application," Rousch said. "Whether we do it the way we originally planned or through a hybrid program, we need to have that component, and the program will grow."

School Board member Richard Norris said he thinks many students will benefit from this type of instruction.

"This is a cultural change for our high schoolers," Norris said. "Once our students are in an environment where they are motivated to learn, they will rise to the challenge. If we can prevent 10 kids from dropping out who are on the border line right now, this program is more than proving itself."