January 29, 2010

OK, does anyone know what happened to January? It certainly got away from me! Some good news you can hold onto, though—someone told me today only 50 days until spring. Bring it on!

Hope you’ve had a great, productive week. A couple of highlights from my week:

Wednesday and Thursday the administrative team, Shane, and I attended the annual Ohio ACTE Legislative Conference in Columbus (while Jon and Glenn stayed back to hold down the fort—thanks!) Seems what we hear most about today is the need for jobs, jobs, jobs. Our visits with legislators gave us the opportunity to stress to them how career-technical education in Ohio can be part of the solution to the jobs crisis. One visit was especially neat: When Joel and I visited Senator Gillmore’s office, the Senator wasn’t available, so we met with her aide Erica. Once Erica connected who we were, she went on to tell us how much she values career-tech and how she feels more students (including some she graduated with) should take advantage of what we have to offer. She recognized how critical our training programs are to Ohio’s economic recovery. Wow—we hardly had to say a word! If you’ve ever talked with legislative aides before, you know that they’re the “gatekeepers” of information and filter what gets to legislators. So I sometimes actually prefer to meet with them! Erica is one contact we will definitely cultivate. And as we work to stay in touch with our legislators, we will be calling on you to share your success stories and provide data that demonstrates that we get the job done!

During the conference, we also heard some really good speakers on legislation, funding, and the economy. Not entirely the most uplifting messages, but it was gratifying to have legislators, ODE leadership, and business people validate the training we provide to high-school and adult students. We’ve got some tough times and tough decisions ahead of us, but we also have some real opportunities to position ourselves well for the educational reforms being driven by the economy. I’ll have more to share about that at our District Update on February12.

On Wednesday evening we held our Board Meeting and welcomed seven new Board Members. We took a little extra time to educate them on our operations, and I could sense from their reactions that they are really amazed at the many facets of our organization. I’m sure it’s a little overwhelming at first, but we’ll invest time to make sure we get them oriented and up to speed. They’ll be attending orientation sessions the middle of next week, and I look forward to touring them through some of our labs and showing off our students!

We’re heavily into recruiting season, and new opportunities are opening up to us all the time! Last week, Marysville High School hosted a Career Fair and gave our teachers and students an opportunity to come in and share about their programs (see photo at right). This is partnership at its best—making all students aware of opportunities available—and we appreciate Marysville opening their doors to us!

I have to share kind of a cute story about a group of our students. I came out of a meeting in the Inn on Tuesday morning, and I noticed a young man among a group in the Commons with his hat on. I went over and asked him to please remove it (which he did, no problem). I also told them I was glad they made it to school safely in the snow that morning. I have some small bandages on my face where I had some lesions removed. One of the kids—being uninhibited as they tend to be—asked, “What happened to your face?” I had honestly forgotten the bandages were there, so I’m not sure how I came up with this so quickly; but I said, “This is an example of facial piercing gone bad.” He looked pretty shocked, and I could see his wheels spinning wondering why I would try to pierce my face where these bandages are. I laughed and told him I was just kidding—and I reminded the whole group to wear their sunscreen.

Isn’t Groundhog Day coming up? I never can remember when it is or whether we want the little guy to see his shadow or not. Anyway, have a great weekend and hopefully we’ll get to see our shadows!

January 15, 2010

Well, this has been a sad week. We’ve seen massive loss of life overseas and the loss of one very special life closer to home. As Shelly Swaney put it so well during her invocation at our All-Boards Banquet, “Our hearts are heavy.” The loss of a young life is always so heartbreaking. But if anything positive came of the loss of our student, Ryan Reynolds, in an auto accident on Wednesday afternoon, it gave us a chance to demonstrate how important it is to come together at a time like this. I am so very proud of our staff and students for the way you handled this tragedy. Upon receiving the news, the “machine” of my administrative team went into action to arrange support for students and staff alike. And when you all came together on Thursday morning, it was obvious you cared deeply for those who were hurting, wrapping yourselves around students (and each other)--both figuratively and literally.

I also want to express my deep appreciation for all the support and offers for assistance from our partner school staff and local clergy in providing grief counseling for those who were in need. I was touched that they offered without being asked. I even received offers of assistance from other nearby career centers if needed. It’s a good reminder that, in the educational community, we really are family. Our hearts go out to Ryan’s family and the families of the other boys who were injured. Please continue to lift them up.

On a positive note, we have a new addition to the OHP family—sort of. The construction of the new paint booth in our Auto Collision Technology Program is finally underway! (See photo at right). Bob Newland, instructor, and his students have been very patient as we’ve worked through the lengthy process of obtaining permits, contracting out work, and retro-fitting this new, state-of-the-art booth into an older building. We’re very privileged to have been able to purchase this booth through Sloan Foundation Funds to give our current and future students access to the very best technology in the field. Looks like it’s going to be a beauty—and I know Bob and his students will be anxious to demonstrate once it’s up and running!

The work of the Ohio School Funding Advisory Council is underway to determine how career-technical education will be funded in the next biennium. The Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents has formed a Steering Committee of superintendents and treasurers, and we have begun meeting to draft a funding model, based on the Governor’s evidence-based model, that we feel will serve career-tech adequately and fairly. It’s going to be an arduous task; but we feel it’s important to propose a model based on the expertise of the group rather than having one imposed on us by those with no in-depth knowledge of career-technical programming or operations. I’ll keep you posted on our progress!

January is School Board Recognition Month, and Wednesday evening we held our annual All-Boards Banquet to thank the board members from our 14 partner school districts and 3 county ESC’s. We had a great turnout and good fellowship. Keynote speaker Rick Lewis, Executive Director of the Ohio School Boards Association, gave us an entertaining and enlightening presentation on the many reasons we should be thankful to our school boards. If you have an opportunity to contact a school board member, either from our board or the board where you live, please take a moment to thank them for their service to education.

Speaking of school board members, Ohio Hi-Point welcomes seven new school board members this month:

* Doug Lassiter, Marysville
* Robert White, Ridgemont
* Brian Wright, Riverside
* William McDaniel, Tirad
* Brian Moots, Upper Scioto Valley
* Tom Brookhart, Waynesfield-Goshen
* Chuck Buck, West Liberty-Salem

We thank these members for the extra time they have committed to serving our district, and we look forward to having them learn about the many wonderful opportunities we make available to students of all ages!

Have a great extended weekend, enjoy the warm(er) weather and sunshine, and be good to yourselves.

January 8, 2010

Happy New Year and welcome back to all of you! And welcome back to our Ohio winter weather. To me, this week seems to have lasted a month with catching up after the holiday break and dealing with the uncertainty of the weather. But no doubt it will be a downhill slide (no weather pun intended!) from now until the end of the school year with the many activities in our compact schedules.

I heard someone on the radio say that we have finished the first decade of this century. Wow—that really puts the passage of time into perspective! Remember all the fuss over Y2K? Seems like yesterday--and now we’re 1/10 of the way to Y21K.

It’s so nice to see our students back—and I really think they’re glad to be back. I’ve had a couple of them giving me advice on when to put us on a delay or cancel school (“as often as possible” is pretty much their philosophy!) One young man asked me every time he saw me on Monday, “Hey, did you catch that weather report?” And some of our very dedicated Adult Basic Literacy Education students were here early on Wednesday in spite of the delay. Joan Manns in Adult Education found them a nice, warm place to work until their classes started. Thanks to all of you for your flexibility with the altered schedules. I know it’s a nuisance—and this is likely just the beginning!

Speaking of dedicated, as I drove in early on Wednesday, I passed one of our staff members who was here even earlier. Tom Carrig, Printing & Graphics teacher, was out trudging through the snow to snap photographs of the beautiful frosted trees for next year’s OHP Christmas card. It really isbeautiful with the frosted trees and blanket of snow, and I can hardly wait to see what Tom and his students come up with!

Monday evening I had an opportunity to meet in a small group with Congressman Jim Jordan at one of his local stops in Logan County. He focused primarily on the Health Care Bill, but I did have an opportunity to share with him some of our new programs, the adult workforce training opportunities we’ve made available to displaced workers, and our expansion into Champaign and Union Counties. He said, “Wow, a lot has changed since I was last there!” He said he’d love to come see it all, so we will work to set that up with his legislative aides. I’ll let you know so you can be ready to show off when he comes!

Well, I’m headed to the Cleveland area this weekend for a workshop. Nothing like picking the worst weather in the state to drive into! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend—stay warm and be careful out there!