19 take 'vo-tech' option MCA students headed to Schuylkill County while NCCTC stands behind 'full-day' change

COAL TOWNSHIP - At least 19 students from Mount Carmel Area High School are headed to Schuylkill County for career and technology courses in the coming school year, spurred by the district's opposition to the Northumberland County Career and Technology Center's change to a one-year, senior-only, full-day program.

Thirty-eight MCA students are still enrolled at the Northumberland County facility for 2010-11, but the switch by other students may signal a trend for the coming years.

Still, administrators at Northumberland County Career and Technology Center (NCCTC) are confident the senior-only program will best serve the needs of students, and say the tech center's other two participating schools, Line Mountain and Shamokin Area, don't plan to allow their students an option.

"We are all working hard to make our school as attractive as possible for students," Alexander Choman, administrative director at NCCTC, said Friday. "The one-year program emphasizes concentration and continuity, and we believe that will be accomplished best by having the students here all day, year-round."

The decision to change to a one-year program was approved by the school's operating agency in October and announced in March. SUN Area Vocational-Technical School in New Berlin and Lancaster County Career and Technology Center are the only schools in the state to operate with that structure, and Choman said NCCTC will model its program after SUN Area.

Officials at NCCTC, which offers 12 areas of study, said they made the change to stay competitive and allow students to concentrate in their particular skill area uninterrupted from the time they arrive at the career center until the closing bell. Sharing time with a home school and transportation time interrupts the school day and adversely affects the efficiency of training. Also, students will be able to garner the 720 required hours for state reimbursements, Choman said.

The change will be fully implemented in the 2012-13 school year. The two-year transition will allow this past school year's sophomores and juniors to complete their schooling under the half-day, three-year structure they began as sophomores.

Need to recruit

Choman admitted there are going to be "growing pains," as some have suggested, among other concerns, that students who attend high school at their home schools through their junior years won't be as inclined to move to the career and technology center for their senior years. But the career-tech board believes the new program will better prepare students for future employment or further training.

Principal Robert Beierschmitt said it's important for NCCTC to start recruiting students in the seventh and eighth grades to the school to establish a consistent enrollment.

MCA School Board members Michael Rovito and Rose Marquardt, who represent the district on the career-tech operating agency, voted against the change. Then, on June 15, the MCA board as a whole voted to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Schuylkill Technology Center (SCT) to allow its students to go there if their chosen vocational course isn't offered at the Coal Township facility. STC has facilities in Frackville and Mar Lin, near Pottsville.

Last month, Mount Carmel Area Superintendent Cheryl Latorre said the majority of career-tech education students at Mount Carmel Area were not happy with the decision for the senior-only program. The 19 who have already switched, which was as of Friday, Latorre said, equal to one-third of the district's career-tech enrollment from 2009-10. It's likely MCA's enrollment at NCCTC may fall further once the incoming juniors and seniors complete their careers under the current three-year structure at Coal Township, considering the number of students who have already switched to SCT.

Mount Carmel Area's financial commitment to the NCCTC is based upon the number of students enrolled, said Marquardt, and if the enrollment falls, the funding will follow.

If enrollment goes down, she said, classes and financial commitment from the schools could be jeopardized.

"It could present a problem," she said. "We're hoping the enrollment at the vo-tech picks up."

On Friday, Latorre said the memorandum of understanding with SCT will give students more course options and allow students to continue to attend a career and technology center as sophomores and juniors. Programs at SCT include electromechanical/robotics, marketing/logistics, masonry, ornamental horticulture, plumbing and heating technology and small engine technology.

Choman hopes MCA's decision will not adversely affect the Coal Township facility, but agreed the district has the right to send its students to another facility if NCCTC doesn't offer the course of study they wish to pursue.

He said Shamokin Area and Line Mountain officials have no plans to allow their students to attend other career and technology centers. Logistically, MCA is in a better position to do so, with SCT's Frackville center only a few more miles further from MCA High School than the Coal Township career-tech center.

Mount Carmel Area, Line Mountain and Shamokin Area have been the "sending" school districts for NCCTC since it opened in 1972, and help fund its operation.

The center offers courses in automotive technology, carpentry, collision repair technology, communications electronics technology, computer technology, cosmetology, culinary arts, electrical construction, health occupation careers, occupational child care, protective services and welding.

Choman said the school plans to add heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and drafting/computer-aided drafting (CAD) courses for the 2011-2012 school year.

Number breakdown

According to statistics provided by Beierschmitt, there were 323 students at NCCTC at the end of the 2009-10 school year, including 94 graduating seniors, 103 juniors and 126 sophomores. Of the 323 students, 203 were from Shamokin Area, 61 from Line Mountain and 59 from Mount Carmel Area.

The projected enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year is 229 students, including 103 seniors and 126 juniors. A school-by-school breakdown shows 145 from Shamokin Area, 46 from Line Mountain and 38 from Mount Carmel Area.

The drop of 94 students in total enrollment can be attributed to the elimination of sophomores in the first transition year, Choman said.

The projected enrollment for Shamokin Area students attending the career and technology center in the 2010-2011 school year includes 79 juniors and 66 seniors. The projected enrollment for Line Mountain includes 28 juniors and 18 seniors. The projected enrollment for MCA includes 19 juniors and 19 seniors.

(Staff Writer Justin Strawser contributed to this story.)