Central Vt. Career Center budget is on the March 5 ballot
February 15, 2024 | By Jody Emerson
Town Meeting is just around the corner and I wanted to take a moment to remind you that the Central Vermont Career Center’s budget is on one of the ballots available at your Town Clerk’s office.
Career and Technical Education is at the forefront of workforce development. Here at the Central Vermont Career Center, we are training students to become the next generation of mechanics, graphic designers, chefs, plumbers, contractors, hair stylists, EMTs, nurses, and much more. These are high-demand, highly skilled, well-paying careers. Just as important, we are giving students the opportunity to find those rewarding careers or paths to college right here in Vermont.
While career and technical education has often been an afterthought, we are seeing more and more that it is a critical part of a high-quality PreK-12 education — especially in the middle and high school grades.
In our second year as an Independent Technical Education District, the Central Vermont Career Center School District board has set three overarching goals that guide our work toward fulfilling the mission and vision of the school and bringing more awareness to the importance of career and technical education. Embedded in each goal, and every decision that we make is our commitment to our students.
Goal 1: Oversee the long-term plan of building a centrally located, state-of-the-art facility fully dedicated to serving the needs of our school and the broader community. We have assembled a facilities committee made up of board members and interested community members to guide the work to bring our vision to fruition for the fall of 2029. This new facility will allow the center to expand its programs and serve more students across the board.
Goal 2: Ensuring that Central Vermont Career Center is providing an equitable, safe and rigorous program by strengthening inclusive curriculum, instruction, and professional development across the center. The program quality committee of the board will continue to meet and discuss data, in particular as it relates to our Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment, applicant and admissions data, and program viability.
Goal 3: Increasing community involvement in all aspects of the school. The Central Vermont Career Center School District board continues to look for ways to engage the public in our work.
As we approach Town Meeting Day, we would like to express our sincere appreciation for the support that we have received thus far and to share some of the amazing work happening in our center:
Gov. Phil Scott provided four centers including ours with the opportunity to renovate a flood-damaged home - our Exploratory, Building Trades, Electrical and Plumbing & Heating programs are collaborating on this work while our Digital Media Arts programs are documenting the work.
We are looking to partner with Habitat for Humanity on the building of a home within walking distance of the school starting later this spring.
Our Baking & Culinary Arts program provides one meal a month to the Barre area Senior Center with rave reviews.
Students in our second-year emergency services program are actively working and volunteering at local ambulance services as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) or Emergency Medical Responders (EMRs), depending on their age, with Barre Town, Northfield and Waterbury services.
Our Medical Professions students are currently practicing live draws as they need 30 to sit for their phlebotomy certification exam.
Cosmetology One is working with Glo Recycling to help educate Vermont community salons about the importance of recycling and how it can help make the industry more green and sustainable. They have begun to use it in their classroom and will be giving presentations to local salons as well as the program advisory group in April.
Exploratory is gearing up for our 3rd annual invasive plant species removal from the Barre City Cow pasture hiking trails.
And we have over 20 students participating in Cooperative Education and already working out in the field at a variety of businesses including 802 group - Subaru and Toyota, Barre Tile, Benoit, Central Vermont Medical Center, J. Gould, Laquerres, Norway & Sons, The Res, Tanner Electric, VHV and Waterbury Ambulance Service.
As a reminder, although Central Vermont Career Center serves six school districts that represent 18 towns, there are no town lines or boundaries at Central Vermont Career Center School District. It has its own ballot separate from your local school district's ballot, however, our budget is embedded in each school district’s annual budget.
Passing the CVCCSD budget, regardless of what happens with local school district budgets, means that the CVCCSD budget becomes a legal obligation of each sending district.
Remember to vote on or before Town Meeting Day, March 5. We appreciate your continued support of Career and Technical Education in Central Vermont.
Jody L. Emerson is the director of the Central Vermont Career Center and superintendent of the Central Vermont Career Center School District.