Jackson River Technical Center

Educator Advisory Committee

January 25, 2008

Minutes

 

 

Members Present:         Tom Beirne                  Guests Present:     Mr. Eddie Graham

                                    Glenn Spangler                                          Dr. Robert Grimesey         

                                    Kenny Higgins

                                    Sonja Howell

                                    Ellen Nipper

                                    Sarah Campbell

                                    Ruth Fuhrman

                                    Lisa Gilbert

 

·        ·        Mr. Beirne welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 10:04am.

·        ·        Mr. Graham expressed his concerns over Covington students not meeting the 140 clock hours of instructional time at JRTC.  He has an issue being able to sign that Covington students are getting the proper clock hours at JRTC and at CHS.  He handed out a chart showing the differences in the instructional time between the Alleghany High School and Covington High School students.  The chart was created at JRTC using the information from last year.  There was a lot of discussion over the reasons for the differences listed in the chart.  It was agreed that many of the items in question would be solved by going to a common school calendar.  Mr. Graham stated that the one remaining issue may be solved with some shifting of the schedule at Covington High School and JRTC. Mr. Graham stated that JRTC may need to start 1st block fifteen minutes early and end 2nd block fifteen minutes later.  This may cause a problem with an unencumbered lunch.  Covington City Schools will continue to look over this plan.

·        ·        Mr. Higgins presented an option that CHS could do half day schedules while AHS stays on the block system.  That idea did not seem to be a workable solution.

·        ·        Mr. Graham shared the past history of the time schedule at JRTC.  When AHS was deciding to go to the block schedule both school systems and JRTC worked out a way for JRTC to go to the four period block schedule.

·        ·        Mr. Beirne showed the committee the chart that was created outlining information of how the other regional technical centers operate in the state.

·        ·        Mr. Beirne introduced a plan to make marketing a certificate program.  It would require three marketing classes for a student to be eligible.  Students would need to take marketing as a prerequisite for the certificate. 

·        ·        Mr. Spangler mentioned that the requirement for AHS seniors to take a marketing class before they can get early release causes a problem getting students involved in more than one marketing class.  The class spaces stay full with AHS seniors that only take that one class for an early release. 

·        ·        Mr. Higgins suggested letting next years seniors have early release without a marketing class.  Require juniors that want early release their senior year to take the marketing class in their junior year and then their senior year so that we can get students involved in more than one marketing class. 

·        ·        Mr. Beirne directed everyones attention to the hand out on the proposal for revisions to diploma requirements.  He asked everyone to look this over for the next meeting.

·        ·        The committee does not like the idea of technical diplomas.  The requirement of adding a fourth year component to the program would cause problems.   

·        ·        Ms. Howell questioned what incentive there is for students to get a technical diploma.

·        ·         Mr. Beirne went over information from the Alleghany Highlands Business Resource Center Management Team Meeting.  The WoodLINKS program, which was introduced in that meeting, brought up some concerns with the EAC.  The committee is concerned that the schools are going to be asked to change the K-12 curriculum to accommodate the WoodLINKS program.  This is the first time that the committee has heard about this information.

·        ·        Mr. Beirne informed the committee that the skills advisory council asked if all the CTE classes could be located at JRTC.  The EAC did not like the idea.  Loosing spots for their students at the home school and travel issues were part of the negatives discussed. 

·        ·         Mr. Beirne introduced information about a possible CTE Academy.  It looks like another governor’s school for CTE.  It was too late to look into the academy for this year.  The committee has questions on how this will work.  Patrick County has a CTE Academy set up.  Mr. Beirne mentioned the possibility of going to see how their program is set up. 

·        ·        Ms. Campbell mentioned that we already do dual enrollment with the CTE classes at JRTC now more than ever.

·        ·        Next meeting date was not set at this time.  Looking for a date the last week in February.

·        ·        The meeting was adjourned at 11:53am.

 

Respectfully submitted

 

 

Glenn M. Spangler

 

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