Taking the lead in the tech realm

Plans to establish a Career & Technical Education (CTE) Center in Carrington are progressing.

Carrington Public School superintendent Janelle Helm and board president Joel Lemer gave a detailed updated at the CPS board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14, which included a list and map of all the active CTE centers in the state and an outline of the process for establishing one.

The central third of the state is lacking a physical CTE center, Lemer said. While both Jamestown and Devils Lake have centers, there is a still a large swatch of area school districts that are not participating in either.

The primary challenge is transportation, Lemer noted. Geographically, students must be within 25 miles of a CTE center in order to benefit from on-site programming, due to the time required to transport them.

Therefore, the school districts that could benefit the most from a Carrington center include New Rockford, Midkota and Pingree-Buchanan. However, other area districts such as Harvey, Fessenden, Cooperstown and Medina could participate in virtual classes or benefit from mobile labs and trailers brought to their town.

With a glut of federal and state funds available, Lemer and Helm see opportunity for Carrington to take the lead. As reported before, 40 percent of the expenses (including staff salaries, benefits and supplies) for classes offered in a certified CTE Center are reimbursed by the state. In addition, the state is currently offering a 75 percent cost share on all approved costs for a new center's first year of implementation. That makes simulators, equipment and other technology needed to expand CTE programming more affordable.

Helm said the most important question they are asking is, "How can we support the schools around us and bring in more offerings for our kids?"

In order to qualify as a center, they must offer a minimum of two credits per year in at least three occupational clusters. They also need a minimum of three school districts participating, with at least one student from each taking classes in at least one cluster.

Carrington currently has certified staff and programming in several occupational clusters, including agricultural education, FACS, business, marketing, culinary arts and vocational/career guidance.

Helm said she'd like to see additional clusters as well, such as health careers and construction trades. There is a severe shortage of workforce in those areas.

The key is that the center has to feel like it belongs to all the school districts that participate, not just Carrington. The next step is to obtain a sample budget from the State CTE Office and then approach area schools to gauge their interest. Discussions would begin with the school board president and superintendent, followed by presentations to each district's board.

Should they get interest from at least two other districts (for a total of 3), they would begin organizing the center. Each center is governed by its own board and has its own annual budget. Each participating school district would have representation on the center board and share the costs based on their total grades 9-12 enrollment. Therefore, if a school with 200 students joined a center with 1,000 total students among all participating districts, that district would pay 20 percent of the costs.

The board passed a policy change meant to address a common issue in the high school – use of lockers. Currently, the policy states that all lockers must remain locked with combination padlocks.

High School Principal Connor Weber explained that in lieu of changing the policy, he recommended the implementation of a waiver for students who choose not to lock their lockers. The combinations are hard for some kids, Helm added, which results in frustration and failure to follow policy.

There is a camera system in the hallway to catch other overt offenses, such as stealing from or damaging lockers, Weber explained. Therefore, if parents are willing to sign off and agree that a student doesn't need a lock on his or her locker, it should be allowed. However, the school is not responsible for any contents of the locker if the student does not use the school-provided lock.

Weber reached out to other Region 3 principals, and he discovered that none require locks. Former principal Chrystopher Bitz originated the waiver idea, and Weber added to it.

At this time the policy has not changed, and lockers must still be locked when students are not accessing them. Rather, the waiver has been added to allows students and their parents the opportunity to decide how they want to use their locker.

"This is one of the best things to come before this board," member Kevin Wolsky said. "It gives our students a choice."

The board also reviewed Helm's biannual superintendent evaluation, which included an online survey of all the board members and a self-evaluation by Helm. Her average scores in all six categories were 4.2 or higher (max 5). The board unanimously approved the overall satisfactory evaluation.

At the close of the fall sports season, two coaches have handed in their resignations. Karla Michaelson will leave her post as assistant volleyball coach and Greg Hoeckle resigned as assistant football coach. As football coaching was in Hoeckle's contract, the board procedurally needed to formally accept his resignation. Both positions will need to be filled in time for the 2024 season.

Helm reported that enrollment in grades K-12 totaled 553 students, which is down slightly from 565 last May. A few families opted to home-school their students this year, while a couple of others moved out of the district, accounting for the drop.

Elementary Principal Jenna Helseth was pleased to report record-breaking attendance numbers at the fall parent-teacher conferences. Only one parent did not confer with a teacher, and thus their participation percentage landed above the 99.5 percent threshold.

Helseth also highlighted National STEM Day and Veterans Day enrichment activities. The National STEM Day program on Nov. 8 was based on the book, "If I Built a School." All classrooms participated in the activity and reported healthy engagement from students. Marlene Boyer of the American Legion Auxiliary visited classrooms and provided a lesson on flag etiquette and Veterans Day.

The next regular school board meeting is set for Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 4 p.m.