Randolph Technical Career Center School Board - September 9, 2026 [RTCC]

[music] If it's okay with everyone, I'll call the meeting to order. >> Have a quorum. >> Um, yeah. How much do you need for a quorum? >> She needs five, I think. Two, three, four. But do you count as a fifth? You're five. >> One, two, three, four. Oh, you do have a quil. >> Yeah, you're good. >> Yeah. Okay, >> you are good. You got a quorum. >> That's the first time. [laughter] Thank you for being here. Thank you, Dominique. Um, okay. So, we're gonna we're gonna get started. Um, and hope that some other uh folks can join in a few minutes. Um, so we're going to call the meeting to order and um, let's see. There's no one here for open comment, so I think it's okay to y >> move on from that piece. Um, I want to say welcome to Nancy. >> Pouie >> pouie. Thank you. It might take me like five times. >> Oh, hey. >> Okay, >> no problem. >> Thank you for being here. Can you just say your role so everyone knows? Um, I am chair of the White River Unified District School Board and volunteered a year ago to be our representative to this board and then totally forgot that I had done that and reminded me uh a month or so ago and so I finally was like, "Ding, that's right. I did volunteer for this." And so I came and toured the school uh last week and appreciate that >> first time ever being in there and was totally amazed and met all of the teachers and what an incredible place and so I am going to be uh a much more responsible board member now. I am so glad you're here and thank you so much for your enthusiasm for being part of this group. Um appreciate you so much. Thank you. Um, I am Nika Oaks and the director of RTCC. >> I'm Lauren Blanchard Gino. I am the registister and Nika's administrative. >> I'm Ray Sapata. I am on the Orange Southwest School District board for Brookfield. >> I am Colin Johnson. I am the cemetery operational administrator at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery. >> Michael Clark, superintendent. And Dominique, who are you? >> Hi, I'm Dominique. I am the chair of the Echo Valley Board for Orange Washington. >> Thank you so much for being here. Okay, wonderful. Thank you everyone. I'm very excited that all of you are here. This is really and my I'm in my fourth year and this is the the most participation we've had. So, I'm just really excited about it. Um, I wanted to go through the packet and update you guys on enrollment at RGCC. And so, uh, it's really close to what we had last year in terms of enrollment, but we have fewer programs this year, which means that all of our programs um, except for one um, which is digital media with six students meet the state requirement for Perkins funding. So, in CTE, you have to have at least eight students enrolled in a program in order to receive funding um for supplies or um new equipment for your program. And so, this is really good news. We started the beginning of the year with eight students, but um two of them before school started ended up not coming to the program. So, unfortunately, now we're at we started the year with eight, now we're at six. But um our pre-tek program we had planned to cap at 12 this year just due to um the nature of the program and how um many activities they do and how much they go out off campus and and do various work um in the field. And we wanted to cap it at 12, but we just couldn't help ourselves. and we had 13 students who all were really competitive um applicants and we just changed that to 13. So we have a happy class of 13 there. Um nine in automotive technology, diesel technology which is always a very popular class is at 14 right now. Diversified agriculture with a new instructor this year is at 14. Electrical technology is at 13. But we have had some additional interest from other students. Um and so that number may go up um this fall. Construction trades with eight fabrication, welding, and design, which I will probably later refer to as um four-wheel drive lovingly FWD. Um and they have 12 students. Digital media now with six and culinary arts with 11. So um some of our programs are definitely growing. Culinary is growing. Construction is holding steady. Um four-wheel drive is uh growing from last year. Um agriculture is growing and technology is really uh electrical technology is really holding its own. um somewhere between 13 and 15 students. It's been very popular and we continue to have and for those of you who are new to the group, we have a bus that runs from the CVCC tech center and Barry for students that go to U32 Mont Peelier and um what did I leave out? Spalding who would have gone to the Barry Tech Center but they don't have space or they were not accepted. uh for whatever reason, they can hop on the RTCC bus and that bus will take the students here and then take them back to CBCC and then they hitch a ride to their sending schools. So, it's a long ride and some students are willing to do that and we're really happy that we can provide that transportation. So, that has um increased our u ability to allow students to access CTE in this area. So, that's wonderful. So last year's enrollment was 101 students and we had um two additional programs that we do not have anymore. So with fewer programs we have 100 students which is great. Um which means that in previous years we had programs that were not at that eight threshold. So we could not use Perkins funding for those programs. So, [snorts] it's a positive thing that now we can use Perkins funding for everything except digital media. Um, who happened to benefit last year because they were above eight. So, they did get new equipment that they are now using this year. So, it's all worked out. Um, so yes. Okay. So, let's see here. Okay. Um, I have a few updates and I did talk with um, well, I've talked to everyone who is on the invite list. Um, and I got some really useful feedback. I want to share their feedback with you all and then I want to collect any feedback that you might have on the questions at the end of the packet. Um, but before I do that, I want to tell you a few updates. Um we are very proud that 25% of our students are eligible for co-op or some form of work-based learning. Um and this year our workbased learning coordinator is um he's doing a halftime workbased learning coordinator position just like he did last year and he's also doing some discipline work for the other part-time um the other half of his position. And within that he has identified that 25% of our students are ready to go out into the workforce. So that's incredible. Um, and sometimes it can be a hard cell for students because they love being at the tech center and they really like to be with their teachers and we have to really like push them out of the nest and say like we know you like being here but it's time for you to go out and start working and other students are like when can I go out and work? When when when can I be done with academics and just you know get right to work. So, it depends on kind of where the students are at, but having 25% of them in a place where um the grades are there, they've completed the necessary credits um and they meet the criteria based on their professionalism and their readiness to be out in the workforce. That's great. Um and as the year goes on, we should in theory we would get to 50% of our students being ready to go out. So after a student has completed a half of a year or a semester at RTCC, they're ready to go out. So there we are. Later in the year, we would have a 50% rate of students eligible for co-op. Um I'm very excited to say that we are going to be starting a LNA program through adult education in the spring. We have two instructors who are nurses, current nursing, one is a nursing instructor and one is a school nurse here in the district. They are going to collaborate together to offer a 8-week LNA adult education program spring 2027. And just before school started, our program was um awarded a operating license for two years, which is the limit um from the state board of nursing. Um, and that's something that we've been working on for quite some time. It was a program that we had at RTCC and it had been very successful prior to COVID and then um kind of started to have lower enrollment and then it became more and more difficult to find um an instructor and so that combo of the lower enrollment and difficulty finding instructor meant that there were fewer students showing interest in the program um and we weren't able to offer the LNA due to the qualifications of of some of the teachers that we were able to get on board And so the program was closed due to underenrollment. Now we're able to offer it this spring, which is something that we're really really proud of. Um we have the equipment, the space, and two qualified instructors um and as well as a partnership with Gford and Men um to make that happen. So really excited. and we can take up to eight uh individuals. Um and you can apply for financial assistance through VSAC for that. Um also wanted to tell you we have some new staff. So we have Whitney Stretcher who is our new pre-talk teacher. She is a licensed CTE teacher in agriculture from Texas. Um she was most recently in New Hampshire and has just the greatest uh attitude and um brings so much knowledge about CTE instruction and agriculture in general um to our school and so it's really lovely to have her. Um and then we have some new returning staff which is is really fun. Um, so we have Micah Body who is our academic dean and he used to work at the tech center many years ago, went to work at another school district, came back, worked at Randolph Union and is now back with us. So we're very happy to have him on board. Steven Gino is our new diversified agriculture teacher and he was with us last year as both a sub and a paraprofessional. So he's very familiar with our school. Um, and Tony Splaza uh is our automotive technology instructor. And Tony was here last year beginning in January uh working together with our diesel instructor and now has her own classroom in the automotive technology program. Um so I'm really happy to have uh those three returning folks and Whitney as our new um hire this year. Okay. Um in terms of increasing access, I did just talk about the bus that we have. So that does increase access in general to CTE and it also helps increase our individual program numbers which is really great. Um, and our students, I would say, have this really great sense of gratitude um, for the fact that they may not have gotten into the program in their region, but they were able to apply here or get referred here and they were able to find a place in one of our programs. And um, they definitely I feel a great sense that they are very happy that this was provided to them, this bus opportunity um, and that there was space here at RTCC. So, um, we can accommodate up to 160 students, uh, pretty easily. And so, we are at 100. So, we do have quite a bit of room. And so, I'm hoping that, um, with the increased slightly increased number of folks here that we can work together to discuss some ways that we can increase enrollment from our sending schools. um with of course understanding that you know there there is a shortage of students in Vermont and and I obviously know that but um making sure that everyone who's interested in CTE has access to it is something that's really really important to us. Um, oh, there's also something very exciting coming down the pike, which is that there are, um, congressional funds, uh, from Senator Sanders, uh, to increase co-op and work-based learning experiences for students in all tech centers in Vermont. And so, um, he has through work that another tech center director has done in [clears throat] Brattleboro, um, applied for a grant that would provide funds for specifically for RTCC. We're a little different than the other tech centers because of our um, resources and needs. We have a really nice setup. Um, basically we are going to receive funds to hire a driver who already works in the district and in fact I believe it is going to be our RTCC bus driver that I um had been referencing the bus before um to provide transportation to co-ops and workbased learning experiences as well as field trips for students who don't have their own vehicles. So let's say someone wanted to work at the cemetery but they don't have a way to get there. you are very close by, so that's not really an issue. But say that you were in Northfield and we had a student who wanted to work there, but they don't have a vehicle or they don't have gas money or ever. Um we could then um have this person drive one of our seven vehicles or if it was a large group um a bus to that location, drop off and pick up and bring back to school. And so the idea that Senator Sanders wants to um go with is that basically we're going to increase access to these work-based learning opportunities and not only that, but increase access to businesses through field trips um where normally we would pay for um the service of being driven by our bus company. Um we would be able to use this grant funded money for those opportunities which is greatly appreciated. So that's something new. It hasn't fallen into place yet. It's still in the works, but it looks like it's going to happen um because of both the work of of the director at um in Bridalboroough at the CT Center and also Senator Sanders's generosity towards us. So, that's great. Um a very nice new project that we have going this year is that we are replacing our high tunnel. Um, and the students have been taking down the high tunnel that is out back and I'm not sure how old it is, but it's been here a while. Um they disassembled it and um we have purchased a new high tunnel which is going to be professionally installed and we just got water down there um that will allow us to water, you know, over the summer and potentially keep a community garden um and keep plants growing all summer long without having to be there to water it. And you know, it's going to be [snorts] wonderful. So, we're very excited. Um, and I mentioned last year that we had bought um, supplies to make several tiny homes on wheels. We're very, very excited about that project getting off the ground. Um, we spent a lot of time this past year working on the farm stand and it is it has continued into this year. Um, we're almost done. Um, and the kids are just being very meticulous about all the the parts and pieces and and how they're, you know, everything from the color of the stain to, you know, the material that they're going to use for the roof. So, they're learning about all of that. And then the farm stand will then be used to sell the products that the agricultural students and the culinary students are growing and making um, as well as other products that other programs might want to sell within the farm stand. So, it's a really nice project. Um, and tiny homes are on the way, but I think that they are I'm learning from the farm stand project that they are more than probably a one-year project. I think there might be a two-year project, but they're a great learning opportunity. Um, upcoming events that we have are the uh, women can do event hosted by Vermont Works for Women at the VTSU campus. Um, that's been going on for a really long time and RTCC started presenting there a few years ago. Um and we send our students in pre-ticipate and then we have our programs present. So we bring our tractors and our electrical um uh units that where you can like practice putting together different circuits without getting electrocuted. We bring all these things and um let the uh students try things and use tools that they normally um might not have an opportunity to use. Um there is the workforce in motion summit at Champlain Valley Expo that is being led by our workbased learning coordinator who is bringing several groups of students up there. Um skills USA is um is something that we're participating in. It was done in the past for a long time. Then it kind of stopped. Um, and I think that probably was around [snorts] COVID, which was before my time because I started in 2023, but I think some some traditions kind of um, stopped just due to COVID um, in that time, but last year we participated. We gently put our toes in. This year, we know what to expect and we're really, really excited about the competition. And then lastly, our yearly RTCC winter market, which for your information, if you would like to join us, is on November 20th from 10 to 1. And that is a time when the students make products that they sell with the hope of raising money for their programs. And some of that money goes to scholarships at the end of the year. We do give a lot of scholarships at the end of the year. Um, and it just helps them raise money also to build pride for things like sweatshirts and field trips and all kinds of fun activities for the kids. Um, and so I will transition then to just statistics from the last RAB meeting. So we had four [snorts] attendees for the last RAB meeting. So we did not have a quorum. Um, and so we should have at least nine attendees in general. Um, so I'll find out kind of what happened there. But this does um this does kind of play into some of the questions that I have um for all of you that are here. Um so I think I might jump to that for a minute if you don't mind because I'd like to just take some notes from you all. So, um what do you see as as a barrier to folks um being able to attend RAB meetings? Um someone did share that there is a another meeting that happens in their district uh a board meeting on the same night, but it is an hour later than this meeting starts. So, it's uh a 6 pm start. So, in theory, they could hop on a Google Meet, but they said that's a little chaotic for them. So, I know that is one obvious barrier, but I'm just wondering any feedback on barriers that you think might be keeping people from being able to attend. That may be something we could address. If you have any thoughts, I say that's what I do right now. We have our schoolboard meetings on the same day at six o'clock. Okay. >> Um, so I just left on this. I'm literally just sitting in the parking lot of our >> school board meeting and at 6 I'll just hop off and go in there. >> Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for doing that. And you know, there was someone I spoke to where they were like, I really can't like there's not a space for me to be able to go and join your meeting before our meeting. Um, obviously it wasn't you, but it was someone else. And I was like, "Oh, okay." So, you know, I don't know where they are, you know, for that meeting, but a space is obviously a barrier. Um, any other thoughts for that? >> So, I'm just reading the required members thing. Um, one member from each public high school in the center service region. >> So, it doesn't have to be a schoolboard member. It could be anybody from the public. >> That's elected by and from among I that's the part I don't get. Um, >> it's from among >> the members. >> Okay. So it had So we have six board members in our district and so it has to be >> a board member. >> A board member which I think is why last year nobody volunteered and why I [laughter] >> why I said okay I'll do it and then totally forgot. Um >> yeah that makes it hard. Um yeah well interestingly someone shared that at their board meetings though they are ascending school district or ascending school that RTCC doesn't really come up on their board agendas ever. She said we it's it's sort of an out of sight out of mind kind of situation. >> That's true for us. >> Okay. So then my thinking was [clears throat] if they were able to make it to the meetings, they could then bring back some information from this meeting and then have maybe a moment to present that. Um, and so that's that's one thing that would be helpful like if they were able to attend and then could then say, "Oh, let me do a little quick three sentence report from what they talked about at the RAP." Um, but the other piece is that I can also begin sending um blurbs to them and request that that's put on their agenda so that at least they are talking about RTCC in some way. So I'm how do you think that might work? Yeah, that's >> sounds like a good idea. The other question I had Okay, so it has to be from public high schools. So, for example, White River Valley Supervisory Union includes all the towns from Chelsea all the way down through the valley over to Rochester and up to Hancock and Granville. Um, but our school is the only high school in the district. So, it has to be somebody from RUD. I I would assume >> I believe that that's how it is. >> Okay. And I don't know if you even get kids from any of those other towns in our supervisory union. >> We have students from Yes. Yes, we do. >> Okay. >> Because that's too bad that, you know, there might be somebody from one of those other boards, but again, we're the only town, >> right, >> that had the only school board that has an actual high school. None of those have a high school. >> Okay. >> They they all have school choice. >> Oh, that's interesting. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Who who came up with these >> the the rules? >> Yeah, >> it's a great question. >> These are in state law. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Maybe we should be having a conversation with him about that because they don't seem very reasonable. >> It just seems like if there's 10 towns, [clears throat] 10 school boards in our supervis nine school boards in our supervisory union. You would think that out of those nine there might be somebody that >> that could have done. >> Yeah. But not but not according to these rules. >> Right. >> Well, they on in number four it says three additional members elected by the RAP to represent the interest of employers or employees. >> Um so it could be that someone is from there and is an employer for instance in the region. >> Um and then could be a board member. >> Uhhuh. >> For >> So that's why you're on the board. You're one of those people. Yes, >> I'm one of the Yeah, the work. >> There's someone waiting to >> Oh, thank you. [clears throat] >> Rene. >> Oh, good. Hi, Renee. Oh, hi Renee. >> Renee, are you there? >> Here she is. Hello. Welcome, Renee. [snorts] >> Hi. I'm sorry I'm late. I was stuck at one of the schools and I just left. >> It's okay. Thank you so much for joining. Renee, I'm happy to tell you that you are the sixth person here at our meeting today and so we have a quorum for the first time. So, I'm very very excited. Thank you for being here. >> Again, I'm so sorry I'm late. You guys had to wait. >> No, no, you're you're fine. Don't worry. I'm glad you're here. Um, we are at the part of our agenda where I'm going through um some of the the feedback. I was just asking folks what they think is sort of um making it difficult for for people to attend the meetings. There was something brought up by someone who couldn't make it tonight because there was a meeting there's a meeting right after this and they were unable to find a space to you get on Wi-Fi and you know be able to join this meeting like quietly. Um, and so that was something that came up, but um, they also shared that RTCC hasn't been really mentioned, uh, in any context, um, at their board meetings. And so I was thinking that if, you know, once folks start coming here to these meetings, then they could bring back a little blurb of what is going on at RTCC. Um, and if that could become part of the the culture where the um the person who is the RAB representative um brings that back to their board, that would be amazing. And if a person couldn't make it or even if you can make it, I can provide um a snapshot of the highlights of what we talked about um and you know it could become part of maybe the the board agenda for just you know a 30 secondond check-in on RTCC. What do you think about that? >> Yeah, I mean, as far as for the the schools that I work with, um I always write a board report and I include what happened in these meetings. So, it is in their board packets. >> Thank you. >> Um and um as far as I know, uh there were representatives elected for for both Echo Valley and for Pain Mountain. Um I think one challenge maybe and it looks like Dominique's on here and so she may in the same boat is that um their board meetings are the same night as this and they start at six o'clock. >> That was exactly the challenge that was shared. Yes. >> Yeah. Um and so like for us, we have board meetings every single Wednesday night. Um, so and I think for me personally the the time's a little hard because as you saw sometimes I get pulled into schools and it's five o'clock's a little early but >> Oh I was thinking maybe earlier would be better but no obviously not >> Yeah. No, a different day of the week at at six would be ideal in my world, but I'm just one person. >> Okay. No, I appreciate that feedback and I'm not sure I when I started this was the time and the day. Um I'm not really sure how I can find out if that's possible to change days or not. Um so 6 o'clock any other night basically. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So my next question, um Renee and Colin in the last meeting had brought up um some really great points about how RTCC could incorporate a project or donate or bring to a community a project um that would benefit the community and also um be a collaboration opportunity and a reminder that we are here and we are part of they're sending school. And so, um, my staff, we I brought that to my staff last year. We continued the conversation during professional development at the beginning of the year. Um, and there was conversation about making bike racks um for the towns in which students send to um RTCC. Um there was also a conversation about uh benches for town squares or public spaces or even for the school um campus itself. Um and I wanted to get some feedback on the concept of bike racks versus benches versus maybe something else that would be helpful. I mean, I guess I'd ask, does anyone have knowledge about how many bike racks are being utilized now? You know, uh, benches are useful for everybody. >> That's true. Yeah. I mean, I know RTCC doesn't have a bike rack and kids ask like someone asks every year, why don't we have a bike rack? And so, I wondered, I don't even know if other schools do. I I don't know. So yeah, maybe benches are a better >> I think the bike rack thing is a is actually a really good idea because the fabrication class >> that's yeah >> they could be welding up >> that's exactly >> something pretty easily >> and [clears throat] we have a lot of biking culture thanks to the bike uh shop that's right here in Randolph Center. Yeah, >> to do a bench or a bike rack for the school. >> Mhm. >> Super great idea, but it does kind of stray away from the launching into the community. >> True. >> point of view cuz >> could be for the town center. >> You could do more than one depending on how the students do it. You know, you could do one for the school as a prototype and then you could do, you know, maybe over the course of the next couple of years, you put one >> um by like the movie theater >> or or down the street from what used to be Chef's Market. I can't remember what the new called. Yep. That would be a good spot for one. >> Yeah. >> And then um maybe you put one I mean one here at the school would be good. And one in each in each >> and one at the rack. >> Oh, at the rack. Yeah, that's a good idea. Someone said, "Why stop at a They were like, "Why stop at just a bench or a bike rack? You could do a bench bike rack combo." >> Yeah, absolutely. >> I was like, "Oh, yeah." They got really excited. There were like three teachers in the hallway about this. Like, we could do this whole thing. Um Dominique and Renee, what do what do you guys think? Do you all have um bike racks at your school that you're aware of? Schools? I mean, I think I think I would lean into the kids on this one. Um, because they know their communities the best and what might make sense at Randolph might not make sense in Williamstown or in Orange. And so I would, you know, lean into the kids and if if there's only a capacity for, you know, so many resources to do so many things, right? >> You could say, you know, these are the different options that that we have, what do you think makes the most sense for your town? or, you know, these are some things we thought about. What do you guys think? Um, and see if they have other ideas. I I would really lean into them. >> Okay, that's a great great idea. Um, >> another thing that I could >> I could see happening is I know >> when I was going to Vermont Tech back when it was Vermont Tech, >> um, the college would actually put out a something in the newspaper or I don't even know what you would call it, but an ad, if you will, >> uh, reaching out to to the community for things like, for some reason, the thing that stays in my mind is my roommate actually, I believe it was him, he had to help fabricate a new floor cleaner for the farmer who was his old um system that he had that cleaned the cow stalls out broke. >> And so the students job that semester was to go and take the measurements in the barn. Okay. So now you're utilizing your new bus system that you have. >> Um they had to communicate with the farmer to see what >> you know was needed, what his you know, oh this is different because whatever, right? >> And fabricate something that >> personalized to his dimensions and what he needed, >> right? So you could get you could >> hit a couple birds with one stone there because you're putting something out in the paper. So, your name is getting out there. You're now using your new bus system, right? Which is like >> awesome. >> Super utilization right there. >> And you're getting the kids out to do something in the community, >> right? >> And you could always do a piece in the news about that. >> I love that. >> You know, RTCC students helping local farmers or whatever. >> Yeah. you know, um or just asking like, oh, does anybody in the community, you know, we're reaching out into the community for anybody who needs welding on their equipment, something like that, >> right? Okay. I love that >> because I'm sure the students have lots of projects, but it's going to be a lot more exciting for them to have some local farmer pull in with their tractor and be like, I need a weld on this real quick. And that's gonna give them way more experience. >> Absolutely. >> Than, hey, put these two. >> I mean, I don't know what they do. >> It depends. I mean, >> make this into a right angle. Okay, great. I can do that now. >> Yes. Well, and I think that your idea um in this example, it kind of speaks to the skills of the diesel students as well because they would fix um farm equipment um snowmobiles um sidebyside like different equipment that people might bring in um from the community. And so we can help in that way and then we can help by fabricating something that we present and give to the sending school community. Um, but and I also agree with Renee, like bring loop the kids in, find out what they think their town needs, how what would they benefit from. Um, and just really start us having more communication. I think that's I mean, that's that's really what I what I really would love to see is just open up the the lines of communication um with our sending source. >> Um, thank you, Nikas. >> I'm watching the time for you. You have just over 10 minutes. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Um okay. Um one of the questions that I really wanted to ask um all [clears throat] of you who are here is especially from other not from because I I think I have an idea from what um Dominique Renee Nancy what do you feel that your school districts need from us? Um and then that's a broad question. what communication, what uh community involvement, what how could we engage better with you? >> I'm really not aware right now as to what the engagement has been. >> Okay. >> Like um do kids from White River Valley come over here to visit the tech center? Um, >> and we go there to speak with all of the students in grades 9 through 11. >> Okay. And when kids do come over, is it just self- selecting kids that come over or does does a whole grade come over for a field trip? >> Um, generally it's we present uh our full um our full presentation. We bring students, teachers um and we have a slideshow and we take questions and answers. We generally have an hour with our sending schools and then um anyone interested in coming to tour the tax center will come with their school counselors. Um and we take big groups and then there's always students who don't think about it or they're not interested at the time and then we take other people like on a you know one-on-one basis all throughout the year after that. But generally each school counselor will come with a big group of students and they'll tour all the programs. >> Okay. I know that when I was teaching in Woodstock, we used to bring the entire eighth grade class to Hartford. >> Yes. You mentioned that to me. >> And touring >> made all the difference in the world. Up until that point, we would have like five or six kids in the high school that would go to Hartford. And after we started introducing it to the kids in eighth grade and they were planning ahead and they got to see all of the programs there. >> I mean I remember doing that when I was in high school. We had we had to I went to Bell's Falls Union High School. >> Uhhuh. >> We actually when we in one grade we went to the Springfield Tech to tour and then in the other grade we went to the Bradboro Tech to explore. >> Yes. Right. Because they can choose. >> Yeah. And our kids spent the whole day there. They chose um they chose three areas that they were interested in in visiting and they spent you know an hour in each of those three areas had lunch there. I mean it was a whole day. So one problem is that we sometimes and not with all schools but some of our sending schools definitely um like select the kids based on talking to them um to say like these are the kids we're going to bring >> and that's what Woodstock had been doing historically and everyone could come >> and we eighth grade teachers felt like >> that was not working because they were >> very much just selecting certain kids and not even letting other kids know. And if some kid did show an interest, they were saying to them, "Oh, you don't want to do that. You're collegebound." >> Oh, yes. So, that was something that someone brought up to me. They said that um they very much feel like it's there's been like this divide where it's either your college or your CTE bound. But I think maybe what board members need to hear is that you can get nine credits of college just like you can in a traditional high school. You can take classes uh if you're a AP student, you can take AP classes, you can access all the classes here at RU. >> Um you can access online classes, dual enrollment classes, you can do all the things and learn a trade. So it's not a one or the other kind of a situation. And I think what I need is some support from board members to say um let's let's bring all of the students, not just the ones that we think are techbound, but give everyone an equal opportunity because everyone gets a chance to see what the high school's like. So everyone should also get a chance to see what CTE is like. >> Yeah. And that's what I would like to see here because it made a huge difference in Woodstock. All of a sudden enrollment in Hartford went way up. >> Okay. with us eighth grade teachers doing it because none of the high school teachers were willing to do it. >> Oh, >> yeah. It was like one of these things that >> Okay. >> And I I I've been retired from Woodstock for 11 years now, so I don't know if they have kept up going >> to visit Hartford, but >> Well, by the years I was there, it made a big difference. >> Interesting. Do you think um and I guess I'm speaking to the three of you because we we do have you know work in such close proximity here um that all of the students who want to come tour um have access to the tech center but I'm wondering for um Dominique Renee and Nancy do you think that you could help support my ask of allowing all students to come visit the tech center just to give everyone that exposure? >> Yeah, >> I would really appreciate that. that would really help. Um my goal always is to increase um awareness and access and it just makes me sad when I hear that people are like, "Oh, I didn't know you could get college credits at the tech center." Yes, of course you can. Um we have all the things. Um so, >> do you have any idea how many White River Valley students we have now? Because I know I saw the one anyways when I visit agriculture. >> Yes, I can tell you in just a moment. I like that. >> Um okay, very good. Uh, Dominique and Renee, do what do you think about that? Do you think that that could be something that could be part of the culture? >> Um, I uh I think that some of the biggest bang for your buck would be working more with the school counselors and helping educate them. I mean, we've had we have two new counselors in one of our high schools. um a fairly new counselor at um Echo Valley and so maybe also working with them um as far as because they may not even know all of all of the opportunities. So I I think also doing some outreach with the counselors and helping educate them on on the different opportunities that kids have um could also be really helpful for them. Um, I'm just thinking specifically at Williamstown, we have somebody who's a brand new school counselor. Um, and she's learning the >> visited us earlier this week, actually. >> Yeah. And and I know she would be more than happy to learn everything she can. And so I think that would be another really helpful avenue because they're really the ones that help kids help guide kids on their path um, and meet with them and make their schedules and all of those things. And so if they have a solid knowledge of the different opportunities at the tech center, I think that they will be able to communicate that really well with the students. >> Perfect. I Yes. And you know, we do so they are part of our presentations like they're there for the presentations. Um we communicate very very often. Some some are probably tired of hearing from us. Like we loop everyone in. Um if there's like a discipline issue or um an award or something really wonderful that's happening. Um I try to remember and not overwhelm people with sending our newsletters. Um but I do occasionally send newsletters their way. Um and we do have we had a counselor breakfast this year um for all of our sending school counselors and administration. and we invited them, but um we only had two attendees, unfortunately. Um and one was an OSSD um school principal and the other was one of our um sending school case managers. Um but we definitely uh have we want to increase um communication and we hope that the next breakfast they'll be able to attend. Um we also do always invite them to our open houses um but that has not necessarily been super well attended. Um and uh we also do a uh a Google meeting every year where we go over um enrollment and special education and how we support special education students and that is well attended. Um, and so we'll just we're gonna just keep doing that and keep working with the new folks and and getting everybody um in the know so that everyone feels like they have all the information they need so they can pass on to students. That's really helpful. >> So, you're going to lose your qu in three minutes. >> Okay. Um, great. Great. Um, okay. This was really helpful. Thank you so much for attending. Our next meeting is in November. >> Did you want to take the questions that they might have? Oh, do you have any questions that I may help you with? >> I'm gonna answer your question. >> I don't have any questions. I was just going to say um sort of the same thing, just reaching out to our guidance counselor. At Echo Valley, we have school choice, so our kids get to go anywhere in the state of Vermont. Um, so I'm not sure having all of the eighth graders go um and view everything over there would be the best if they're not going to even attend. Um, but I think reaching out to the guidance counselor would definitely be helpful. >> Okay, thank you for that. Great. Okay, perfect. Um, yeah, it's really going to depend, right, on on each school's situation and right, we wouldn't want we definitely can't have students tour if they're [clears throat] not in our sending region unless it's for a program that their sending district does not have or the district that they chose doesn't have, such as diesel, for example. Um, okay, perfect. So, I guess I think what we need to do is continue this conversation next time, but if anyone has any ideas and is able to um email me or reach out or wants to do a Google me, I'm here [snorts] and available. Um, and I'm always looking for suggestions and the suggestions that I've been given are very appreciated and we are in uh engaging with our staff to figure out how we're going to, you know, have these projects and and make them successful this year because that's something that we'll be really really proud of. um and we want to engage the students with that. So, thank you for all the ideas from May and thank you for being here this evening. Um and then we'll have more communication between now and November. If you have any ideas, please know. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dominique Renee. [music] >> [music]