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Butler Tech meeting aims at better collaboration

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By Lindsey Hilty, Staff Writer 9:18 PM Monday, November 2, 2009

Collaboration is needed among Butler County schools, nearly 70 educators, business leaders and politicians agreed during a Butler Tech sponsored conference Monday, Nov. 2.

“I hope they take home that we’re all in the same business trying to make students successful, productive citizens,” Butler Tech Chief Executive Officer Bob Sommers said. “By collaborating together, we would be better. As educational institutions, we need to understand business better, and business leaders can always understand better how they can help us succeed.”

Kelly Nelson, human resources director for AK Steel spoke as part of a panel of business leaders. She said students are lacking soft skills that make them employable. She graded area districts as a “C” in preparing the workforce, but said a focus on 21st century skills could solve the problem.

“I think Butler Tech is doing a great job just by having us all in the same room having this discussion,” she said.

Jim Lay, the facilitator hired to facilitate the strategic planning process for Butler Tech, said all present were asked what reforms are needed in the educational community. The question was followed by what the group saw as opportunities, challenges and new ideas.

One thing that became clear, Lay said, was that educators felt more teachers need to spend time in the work place and more of the private sector needs to spend time in the classroom.

“What I’ve appreciated is we’ve gotten those two worlds together,” Sommers said.

The goal, he said, specifically at Butler Tech, is to produce quality students by providing quality educational experiences to meet the business and industry needs and ultimately society’s needs.

The student, he said, is the customer in a free enterprise education system of choice, and the product is the educational experience. This is different from most educational systems of thought where the product is the student.

“There are no bad students,” he said. “There are inadequate educational experiences that haven’t met the needs of the students.”

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