A proposal on the courses, schedule and staff at Geneseo High School’s Career and Technical Education Center was presented at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting.
GHS principal Tom Ryerson was joined by career and technical education teachers Kyle Bess and Bryan Stone to share their ideas and recommendations for the new building that is expected to be ready for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
Semester-long vocational classes currently offered at GHS include Intro to Woods, Cabinet 1 and 2, Autos 1 and 2, Machine Tool Tech 1 and 2, and Welding 1 and 2. Ryerson noted that enrollment in all courses this year has increased from 2021-22.
The creation of the state-of-the-art facility provides GHS an opportunity to reevaluate its courses, scheduling and staffing. The proposal shared by Ryerson, Bess and Stone—which can be viewed here—offers several suggestions, including a schedule that allows students to take back-to-back classes. This would provide more time to work on various shop-based tasks that often can’t be completed in the normal 46-minute period.
Establishing two career pathways for students was also discussed. The pathways—one for computer numerical control (CNC) programs and the other for building trades—are based on needs of Geneseo’s local industry and job market.
“These pathways can serve as blueprints for parents and students to consider,” explained Ryerson.
The proposal also addresses staffing and provides two options—one with the existing two instructors, and the other with an additional full-time hire. The benefits of doing the latter, which is recommended in the proposal, include offering students a more balanced course load, a workplace experience supervised by a department member, expanding the number of students who can take vocational classes, and the ability to learn skills in the proper sequential order.
Next steps include finalizing the career pathways and updating the high school’s course catalog. Eventually, a community business meeting with teachers, administration and a Department of Labor representative will be held as the district works towards creating a certified apprenticeship program for the pathways.
“As we work through this process, it won’t be the finish—it’s only the beginning,” noted Ryerson. “We’re very excited about what we can do with this new building.”
