Monday, May 24, 2010

CTE "cluster" plan

On another post, Anonymous wrote:

"Keep an eye on the CTE plan currently in development. The plan could have a big impact in the number of kids participating in sports due to timing and transportaion issues. If a student takes CTE classes at a cluster site in the afternoon he will need to take PAT transport back to his home school to make a practice. On an afternoon game day will that student get an early dismissal from his CTE class to get to his home school to make a game or bus?"

1 comment:

Questioner said...

Coordination with sports is just one of the concerns raised in connection with the proposed cluster plan for CTE.

As background, the plan is to locate CTE programs at 7 schools. Not all students will have academic classes and CTE classes at the same location, though, and the plan is for these students to "shuttle" at midday to their CTE school. The intention is to have students stay take CTE in their own part of the city (east, north or southwest), but not all CTE programs are offered in all parts of the city (auto repair is just at Brashear, for ex), and the issue of whether and how students may participate in those other programs has not been resolved.

Other issues raised by board members and still to be resolved are the very limited construction-related offerings; the fact that research still needs to be done as to student demand and expected participation in the various programs; and concerns about time spent and the logistics of shuttling. Also, the possibility of a CTE academy has been dismissed as too expensive without explanation as to how much it would cost to place a CTE academy at various existing buildings such as Peabody or Westinghouse.

Despite these issues and more, the board is expected to vote on the proposal this week.