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CEO: Career school not for under-educated students

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By Lindsey Hilty, Staff Writer Updated 3:00 PM Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Butler Tech exists to transition high school students to college and the workplace, said Chief Executive Officer Bob Sommers.

It also offers adult workforce development and industry training. And while some people feel a career technical school should serve those who are failing at high school rather than those who are excelling, Sommers said he disagrees.

“Career tech is not for the tired or poorly prepared and under-educated,” Sommers said. “It is for a workforce — it has to be educated. The whole notion was this school would be a place for people to learn skilled professions.”

And now, those skilled professions demand more educated and college prepared students, he said.

Do school boards have another idea of why the Butler Tech district exists?

Sommers said it is apparent to him that school districts are not well-informed about why Butler Tech exists. It exists, he said, to serve workforce needs of Ohio by preparing future employees for high skill jobs. Also, he said Butler Tech operates in a free market environment, and its goal is to meet the demands of its customer, the students. Districts are losing students to charter or home school programs, he said, because students have choices and their home districts are not meeting their needs.

Under-performing students are at risk because of the services provided, and not their talents, he said. It is the district’s responsibility to ensure no child is left behind.

“All students can learn,” he said.

However, the workforce has no place for nonacademic students, he said. These are the students who are not on individual education plans, but are not up to academic standards.

Does Butler Tech compete for the high-achieving students from Butler County?

“I think part of the problem we have is students come to us and they succeed,” Sommers said. “When they succeed, I think the assumption is we took the best and brightest. We have students that come in from all walks, but they are typically average to below average in (grade point averages). We have not changed entrance requirements.”

Instead, he said the students respond to the teaching methods and programming, and thus gain confidence and achieve at higher levels than when they were at their home district.

Does Butler Tech turn away low-achieving students?

“We have often said, show us a list of names that have been turned away,” Sommers said.

Most of the time, he said programs are not filled to capacity and sometimes those programs are shut down due to low enrollment.

There are programs like Options Academy and Career Based Intervention programs to catch students up for graduation, he said, but often those enrollment levels are low, he said in response to the accusation that it only selects students who will be able to achieve.

Should D. Russel Lee take all students, no matter the academic level?

In a recent study by ACT on college and workforce training readiness, it reported that the majority of living wage jobs require the academic intelligence of an equivalent ACT score of 21 or higher. The gist was that educators should be preparing all high school students for postsecondary education and the workforce. It stated that entry level workers need as much knowledge and skills as college-bound students.

“The average educator and board member believes there is a place for someone who has not learned academics,” Sommers said. “There are virtually no jobs left in the U.S. that don’t require a 21 or higher. This is a philosophical problem that we’re faced with. This is not Butler Tech telling them that. This is life telling them that. We can’t baby-sit them. Business and industry will shut us down.”

Has Butler Tech made it harder for students to get accepted?

“We have not changed entrance requirements,” Sommers said.

Greentree Health Science Academy has always required a 2.5 or greater GPA per state mandates, he said.

In five years, he said a 2.5 GPA will be a minimum standard for career technical schools.

According to the Ohio Collaborative Commitment, Tech Prep, “represents seamless, rigorous sequences of academic and technical course-work culminating in postsecondary degrees and/or industry recognized credentials that support workforce pipelines for a 21st Century economy.”

This Sommers said, means that the rigor of the programs will continue to increase as expectations become higher.

How is Butler Tech funded?

For 30 years, Butler Tech has relied on the same levy to fund its programs. Sommers credits prioritizing of funds as the reason it looks like it has more money than other school districts. He said the board policy mandates that no more than 90 percent of the funds get spent on operating costs with no more than 70 percent personnel costs and 10 percent administrative costs.

“We assume the tax payers want us to live on our 1.93 mills,” he said. “We have more than doubled the number of students we have impacted with no new taxes.”

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