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What does the future hold for the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center?
That’s a question the members of the joint operating committee are trying to answer as growing pains and student needs have led to the JOC to commission a curriculum and building feasibility study.
The JOC received a progress report on that feasibility study at their Feb. 26 meeting.
Susan Sneath, vice president at Devopar Consulting, said her firm conducted a “very thorough investigation” of the current programming and infrastructure at the CTC. The JOC had received a 180-page preliminary report of the firm’s findings.
“Through our site visits and communications and discussions there were also several programs that were either being planned for, programs that were planned to be enlarged or grown, and we also had the privilege of really looking at senior exit surveys for several years in a row,” said Sneath. “We were able to see the most common programs that seniors that were exiting the LCCTC were requesting.”
Scott Shonk, principal at Beers + Hoffman Architecture, told JOC members that the next step is to finalize recommendations, which will include projected costs for various proposals. His firm is the architect for the project while Devopar Consulting is studying curriculum and programming needs.
Sneath noted the CTC currently offers 22 programs to secondary students hailing from the county’s six public school districts.
“We looked at the school enrollment trends. These are the programs that we studied. We looked at the school enrollment trends, the program trends, the post-secondary plans of the students, trends about the sending schools, who’s sending who to what program, the career outlook for those programs and graduates in Pennsylvania, the education required,” she said.
Other data examined the career outlook for program graduates in other surrounding counties, including Berks, Lancaster, and the southcentral region through 2030, salary range for the program’s occupation and related occupations, and student perceptual data.
“For each program we noted commendations and then recommendations,” added Sneath. She said the firm examined program enlargement and other ideas the CTC is considering.
“We looked at agriculture and food science technicians, aviation mechanics, there was discussion about doubling the cosmetology seats, cybersecurity, HVAC, logistics and supply chain management, power sports, and then enlargement of the welding program,” Sneath said. “We did a thorough study of each of those programs and the outlooks for those programs in the future and through 2030.”
The firm also asked students who were graduating what other classes they might have taken that aren’t offered if they had the opportunity.
“The last part, the next part, we looked at these four areas where kids over the past several years highlighted these multiple times,” Sneath said. “So child care, teaching, paralegal and legal assistance, veterinary technician, and video game design – those were the four that popped up most frequently.”
Sneath said the firm has made a lot of progress toward completing its findings.
“We really tried to take a really strong look at not only the viability of the program and the sustainability of the program, but also the success of the students in those programs, not only in their NOCTI (testing), but in their skills assessments,” Sneath said. “And we really wanted to look at the longevity of the programs and the future outlook for potential careers in those programs over the next 10 years or so.”
Sneath informed the board that one aspect of their study is to determine what job opportunities exist after students graduate from the CTC.
“I don’t know if students tend to stay in the area or if they go outwards, but we really just wanted to highlight if there was sustainability or opportunity in those areas that are close by,” said Sneath. “In case the kids, graduates, wanted to stay close.”
Shonk mentioned a recommendation the group plans to make concerning CTC programming.
“For a program like welding, seeing the need that’s there and the jobs that are available, doubling the size of that program based on all these numbers and what we see does make sense. So those are things we’re trying to confirm,” Shonk said.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that all current programs or suggested new ones will make the cut.
“Because sometimes there are some things that are being requested or asked that you’ve got to step back and look at it and is that really a program, you know, how far do you continue each program into the future?” he added.
Later, during a Q&A session with the JOC, the design and programming team was asked if the final report would include specific student program recommendations.
“We looked at the current programs. There were recommendations for some of the new programs. You’ll see in some of those comments whether we’re actually recommending doubling the size of cosmetology or frankly, that may not be what, there’s a request, should we look at doubling the size?” Sneath said.
“Our report is questioning whether you really want to double that because right now the employment situation, there just aren’t a lot of jobs out there for that. Even though there may be a lot of people wanting to come in and do that, again, that’s your decision to expand a program, but they’re not getting out there into jobs.”
The plan is to find a balance between programming needs, student course requests and job demands in the local area.
“You will see that when we have our plan, we’re going to be recommending two welding areas and those types of things. So the plan and that will tie together and you will see which spaces we think you should be enlarging or doubling and some of the programs to add,” Sneath said. “HVAC was a program to add. There were so many other programs listed that were not recommended that may not either have the student interest or maybe a very costly piece that doesn’t have many jobs in the community.”
It was noted that the final recommendations will include placement of programs in proximity to each other. “What we’re trying to do overall here is connect and put the correct programs in the right proximity to each other,” added Shonk. “I think getting some of the programs more aligned that students aren’t moving, could be more in the same area I think is going to help a little bit with instead of having to dash across the entire building.”
After the presentation, Shonk told LebTown the plan is to present final recommendations and cost analysis to the JOC in the near future. He didn’t know if that would occur in March.
In other business , the JOC voted unanimously to:
- Approve the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s agreement for the installation of an air quality device on CTC’s property.
- Pay bills/transfers totaling $1.009.898.71. Included in this amount is the Capital Reserve Fund check to Beers + Hoffman for $9,518.
- Grant carpentry instructor Scott Kreiser a leave of absence retroactive to Jan. 21 and continuing for up to 12 weeks and accept Kreiser’s resignation for the purpose of retirement, effective the last day of the school year, scheduled for June 6.
- Accept the resignation of Justin Breen, electromechanical technology instructor, effective retroactive to Feb. 14.
- Allow 37 students and four advisers to attend the annual Health Occupations Students of America State Leadership Conference in Lancaster on March 26-28. The CTC will cover the cost of transportation, estimated at $2,500.
- Approve one student and one instructor to attend the Project MFG Contest in Belleville, Illinois on March 30-April 2, at an estimated cost of $700.
- Accept the director’s, cafeteria, and financial reports, and minutes of the Jan. 28 meeting.
The CTC’s JOC meets the third Tuesday of each month at the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center, 833 Metro Drive, Lebanon, at 6:30 p.m. Parking and entrance are on the rear (north) side of the building.
This month’s meeting was rescheduled due to the President’s Day holiday since several member districts had moved their board meetings to the third Tuesday of February. January’s meeting was also moved to later in the month due to the Martin Luther King holiday that month.
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