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Carroll tech center tour gives state leaders a…

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Tuesday, September 10th 2024

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Carroll County Times

Carroll County Times |
Carroll tech center tour gives state leaders a behind-the-scenes look at $74M renovation project

FSK High School students in the Heavy Equipment Lab, Peyton Rhodes, Brandon Paugh, and Emmitt Baugher, demonstrate the lesson on series, parallel, and combo circuits to Interim State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright and State Board President Clarence Crawford. Interim State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright and State Board President Clarence Crawford toured the Carroll County Career and Technology Center Wednesday, Superintendent of Carroll County Public Schools, Cynthia McCabe with members of the Carroll County School Board and their staffs. (Jeffrey F. Bill/Staff photo)
FSK High School students in the Heavy Equipment Lab, Peyton Rhodes, Brandon Paugh, and Emmitt Baugher, demonstrate the lesson on series, parallel, and combo circuits to Interim State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright and State Board President Clarence Crawford. Interim State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright and State Board President Clarence Crawford toured the Carroll County Career and Technology Center Wednesday, Superintendent of Carroll County Public Schools, Cynthia McCabe with members of the Carroll County School Board and their staffs. (Jeffrey F. Bill/Staff photo)
By | thsmith@baltsun.com
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Students in the Carroll County Career and Technology Center’s culinary arts program prepared a continental breakfast for Interim State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright and state board President Clarence Crawford Wednesday before the state leaders got a behind-the-scenes tour of the center.

A nearly $74 million construction project at the center, adding 108,205 square feet of space to the facility, is expected to be complete by this summer, according to a Feb. 14 construction report.

Carroll schools Superintendent Cynthia McCabe said the renovation will improve the quality of existing programs but will do little to raise the school’s capacity.

“With this renovation, this big addition that we’ve undergone, we haven’t been able to really take any more students into the program,” McCabe said. “What we’ve done is we’ve been able to bring our programs up to specifications.”

The center, opened in 1971, was designed for 380 students in 19 programs and currently educates about 800 students in 24 programs per semester, according to a Feb. 14 construction report.

“We’re trying to balance the needs and the opportunities for students,” said William Eckles, supervisor of Career & Technology Education. “Since I started working here a couple years ago, we’ve had a lot of changes. We’ve done a lot of creative things.”

About $34 million of the project’s cost was paid for by Carroll County, while the state contributed nearly $40 million, according to the system’s capital budget for fiscal 2024.

Wright commended local leaders for providing robust and successful career education options in Carroll County.

“Workforce development is one of the governor’s key pieces, and if we can fit that into a way that’s going to make our kids successful, then we should be doing everything we can to make that happen,” Wright said.

The visit coincided with February’s Career and Technical Education Month.

McCabe said capital spending and staffing are the biggest factors holding the school system back from expanding the career center offerings and addressing the center’s long waitlist.

“We turn down many students because we just don’t have the seats,” McCabe said. “Here in Carroll County we have a large appetite for career and tech, and we are trying to meet that appetite. But, we would need a lot more funding for both capital and operation budgets to make that happen.”

Monica Blanton, 18, of Westminster, a Manchester Valley High School senior enrolled in the nursing assistant program, has already attained Geriatric Nursing Assistant and Clinical Nursing Assistant certifications through the Carroll program. She said demonstrating her skills in front of Maryland Board of Nursing representatives was a nerve-wracking experience.

“With the skills lab and with the materials we have in here, we are very well-equipped to pass those [certifications],” Blanton said, “and we have plenty of resources.”

The career center’s nursing skills lab is a large room with numerous mannequins and hospital beds, as well as a separate doctor’s office, science lab and physical rehabilitation lab. Blanton said the learning space is designed to prepare students by mirroring real-world nursing scenarios.

“We’re learning the role of the medical assistant,” Blanton said. “We’re also learning professionalism skills, we’re learning what it looks like to effectively communicate to a patient, or how we demonstrate empathy or genuine emotion and care toward a patient in a healthcare environment. Unfortunately, many have to just go from patient to patient to patient, so how do we make that experience worthwhile to a patient?”

Nolan Mailnot, 18, of Eldersburg, a Century High School senior enrolled in the criminal justice program at the tech center, said he appreciates the hands-on, real-world nature of instruction.

“We’re always talking to specialists, which is my favorite thing,” Mailnot said. “I get to talk to people who have that job, I get to learn what it actually is to do it, and that helps me a lot.”

The program gives students the opportunity to learn law enforcement tactics from retired police officers, FBI agents, National Security Agency employees, and lawyers, Mailnot said. Real-world scenarios allow students to engage in traffic stops in controlled parking lots but with real police cars, and in scenarios where law enforcement officers impersonate criminals, whom students must arrest and handcuff according to police protocol.

Abby Burk, 17, of Westminster, a Westminster High School senior enrolled in the print production program, said learning soft skills and interacting with clients has helped prepare her for a career.

Burk said she has already begun applying hands-on print production skills to her day-to-day life.

“A big thing that I do at my high school is I design a yearbook,” Burk said, “so I once I leave here, I’m still continuing to use the skills that I learned here, at my home high school. Everything that I’m doing here definitely transfers over, so I’m able to use the skills that I’m developing here to help me navigate everything else that I do, and it definitely has helped me in the long run.”

The career program also helps Burk connect with clients, she said, which gives her valuable experience in seeing what real-world print production jobs look like. Burk is currently working on a paid project she found through the program, where she is helping a local church with their social media presence. Print program students have also helped several CCPS schools print prom tickets, Burk added.

Eckles said the district has had great success finding community partners, from mom-and-pop shops to international companies such as Heidelberg Materials.

Crawford lauded Carroll’s focus and professionalism and partnerships with the business community.

“It helps ensure that the students are being prepared for real jobs,” Crawford said, “and it also gets the businesses invested in the programs — providing instructors or providing equipment.”

Eckles said he is excited to implement opportunities made possible by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. Aside from an increase in funding, effective communication with state education entities will be the most important factor for the career and tech center’s future, he explained.

“Communication is the biggest thing,” Eckles said. “Understanding what the expectations are, understanding what the goals are, and understanding what the deadlines are, makes it possible for us to plan our work. As much as we can keep communication channels open and understand where things are going to be in the future, we can figure out our path to get to them. I would say that’s the biggest piece.”

When the Blueprint is fully implemented, students deemed college and career ready by the end of their 10th-grade year will be able to choose a career and technical education pathway. Students may alternatively choose a dual enrollment, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate program pathway.

“Not everybody is interested in an English class,” Eckler said on Wednesday, “so students who feel that it’s not relevant to them are less likely to thrive, but that has no bearing on whether they’re a good carpenter or not. We want to honor the different learning styles and different skillsets the students have, so our goal is to keep making it possible, and not letting a test that you took in 10th grade determine your life path.”

Crawford said the state’s college and career standards were recently updated, and, “will constantly be updated,” as needed. The standards are intended to ensure a rigorous curriculum, he added.

“Our intent and our goal is that whether you choose the college path or the career path, the pathway will be a rigorous pathway,” Crawford said. “It’s not like it’s a step down. It’s going to be rigorous. It’s going to be focused on industry, or whatever the young person wants to do, so that’s the way we are approaching it. ”

Carroll County Public Schools will continue to pursue its goal of offering career and technical programs to as many students as possible amid the Blueprint’s implementation, McCabe said.

“To fully roll out all of what we want to do with the Blueprint and build out and assist the counties this is going to take some time,” Crawford said, “but the important thing is lay the right foundation, and then from that we’ll figure out how to scale it.”

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Maryland State School Board President of Education Clarence Crawford smiles as Superintendent of Carroll County Public Schools, Cynthia McCabe makes her opening remarks during a visit to Carroll County Career and Technology Center, with state and local school officials Wednesday. (Jeffrey F. Bill/Staff photo)

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