Superintendent

Superintendent

Friday, January 28, 2011

January 28, 2011

I had the opportunity to attend career-technical education's annual Ohio legislative seminar this week. An important part of the annual event was meeting with two of our district's House Representatives and our Senator. I was accompanied by Adult Education Director Pete Prichard and high school Director Bob Vennekotter. We appreciated the frank discussion of the state's budget challenges with legislators Jim Buchy,Lynn Wachtmann, and Cliff Hite. Mr. Hite will be sworn in as a state Senator next week, replacing Steve Buehrer, who will now lead the Workers Compensation Board for Governor Kasich.

I came away from the legislative meetings refreshed that other people realize the fact that career technical education is vital to helping pull the nation out of the Great Recession. Vantage trains students of all ages for JOBS--while I have always been proud of our ability to prepare people for jobs, much emphasis in the past 16 years has been on training students for careers and college. That is still a worthy goal, but first and foremost, good skilled training will land a student a job in an industry or service occupation. The wage they earn helps build state revenue, as they buy goods and services to provide for their daily needs. While the nation doesn't have a surplus of jobs at present, several jobs still exist in skilled trades which are not seeing qualified job applicants clamoring to fill the positions of retiring workers. The skilled trades are important to our state and national economy. Career-technical education will continue to do our part to prepare people to be employed in these trades.

Don't forget to come out to Vantage on Feb. 7 for the annual Vantage Teachers' Association Student Scholarship Fund Dinner. Check the Vantage website for details!

Friday, January 21, 2011

January 21, 2011

There has been a bit more of a gap than I prefer since my last blog in late December, but the holidays have now come and gone, and with their passing, so has passed much of the frenzied pace which seems to be synonymous with the Christmas season. January has been the best month for me to take some vacation time as well, and so I find myself in the process of "catching up" after being out of the office for a week. I admit, I am guilty of saying on Tuesday, (my first day back from vacation) that a snow day would come in handy soon! Lo and behold, Wednesday's weather resulted in a closure. No, the superintendent doesn't get to stay home on a calamity day, but instead, I enjoy a bit of a slower pace on those days. I can get several items off my "to do" list in just one of these days.

The renovation and expansion project has generated much community interest and excitement. Coming up soon on January 27, will be the bid opening for the early site work and temporary swing space, which was bid out during January. The building renovation and expansion project will be bid in March and awarded in early April. Garmann-Miller Architectural Engineers recently sent a proof of the rendering of the building, which looks great. Two sets of large display boards will be delivered soon so that the staff, students, and community can also see what the exterior of the finished building will look like. Stop by any time and check out the renderings and ask questions about the project. We can't wait to get started with the actual construction!

In closing,I have to pass along this bit of "fun" information that I ran across over the holidays. Apparently the average person eats 65,000 cookies in their lifetime! Since cookies are one of my favorite foods, I may have already met my quota for a lifetime. What about you?