A local sheet metal contractor showed up to the King George County Public Schools’ Career and Technical Education event — dubbed “CTEats” — earlier this month, aiming to learn more about ways to attract students to join his company.
“He was really desperate for workers,” King George Deputy Superintendent Troy Wright said. “He came in, wanted to see what was happening.”
School officials introduced the business owner to the CTE instructors, and, by the end of the meeting, he had offered to help with not supplies and materials for teachers, but job opportunities for the students.
“He was offering a pretty good salary that was getting the attention of some of the teachers in the room,” Wright said. “So, I think that’s the idea — you get those business folks into the school as much as possible so the kids can say, ‘Wow, I can do this right after I graduate’ … So, that was a great eye-opening experience.”
Wright provided that example on Wednesday afternoon, during the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce Workforce NOW Superintendent Forum at Fredericksburg Country Club.
Wright, standing in place of Superintendent Jesse Boyd, was joined by school chiefs from Fredericksburg, as well as Caroline, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties for a panel discussion on how to better assist the region’s business community in retaining talented students within the local workforce, among other topics.
“One part of the answer that I’m hearing related to retention, how do we keep folks around to stay in the area, is getting them engaged in the life of the community and work-based opportunities,” said Pete Kelly, the dean of education at the University of Mary Washington, who served as moderator of the event. “The earlier we can do that, I think people will develop a sense of belonging.”
Caroline Superintendent Sarah Calveric and Spotsylvania’s Clint Mitchell both noted that the Virginia Department of Education is getting more stringent with work-based learning opportunities.
Calveric said that while the new guidelines aren’t yet posted to the VDOE’s website, they were approved at an August meeting.
Calveric informed the business leaders who were present among the 140 in attendance that, if they want to utilize local students, new guidelines will require them to provide an authentic work site in a high-demand field (as determined by the Virginia Office of Education Economics) and host the student for a minimum of 90 hours.
They must also provide opportunities to earn a certificate of completion, an industry-recognized credential or post-secondary credit, and there must be documented completion of a structured mentorship with an industry professional on the work site with feedback.
Calveric said that while those requirements may sound intimidating, each of the school divisions in the region has someone on staff who can guide business leaders through the process.
“The bottom line is hosting a student is no longer a goodwill gesture,” Mitchell said. “It’s not. It’s got to be a measurable contribution to a school’s success and to building the future of your workforce. So, we have to be look at being more intentional about those things … We’re all grappling with it.”
Kelly asked the panel one question that some admitted is a struggle for their division — how to track students after graduation to determine if their CTE experience was worthwhile.
Calveric said post-graduation tracking is a weakness throughout public education because “once a student exits the door, it becomes far more challenging to track where they move to.”
She added there are “blind spots” in the state’s 3E (enrolled, enlisted, employed) initiative, because some graduates move on to work for family or as entrepreneurs in a trade sector that cannot be measured.
“In Stafford, we’re trying to work on what that can look like, and we’re starting to track our students after they leave us,” Stafford Superintendent Daniel Smith said … “We find that we lose track of them for a couple of years. Did they go into the field or not?
“So, how can we stay in constant communication with them to make sure we’re bringing them back to the region, so we can connect them with employers, connect them to those jobs, but then also evaluate the work that we’re doing. Is that the right work? Do we need to think about things differently?”
Fredericksburg Superintendent Marci Catlett said her division keeps up with former students through the James Monroe Alumni Association and other social efforts. Catlett said the business community and the schools can work to make it a “seamless process” to go from school to the workforce.
“We [need to] make it so enticing and [have] incentives that will help our graduates feel the interest or desire to stay where they were educated,” Catlett said. “That takes a sales pitch to what is beautiful about your community and formally making it seamless from their career and technical programs into employment.”
The chamber of commerce is seeking business leaders to participate in the Mock Interview Day — an effort to prepare 400 students from the region for job interviews in the future. The event will be held at 9 a.m. on Nov. 6 at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. Anyone interested in participating can email Executive Vice President, Workforce and Community Development Carley Walker at [email protected].
