Thursday, May 12, 2005
Technical education must stay an option
Shanna Flowers
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But if it weren't for Blue Ridge Technical Academy, the 18-year-old senior says, he would "probably still be in the 11th grade, probably be failing." For three years, Blue Ridge has been an academic lifeline for a student who says he was floundering in the high school mainstream at Patrick Henry High School.
But the charter school that Josh credits with saving him is swirling in uncertainty. Parents and students are fighting to sway school officials who question whether Blue Ridge is worth the investment for a few dozen kids.
The decision is difficult. Each side raises valid points.
Students such as Josh and junior Taquita Taylor say the school's small classes and its focus on technical education has renewed their interest in school and put them on the path to promising careers.
The teachers "help me understand the work," said Josh, who is on track to work in computers. "If I don't understand, I fail."
"Everybody wants to see us make it," said Taquita, a former William Fleming High School student who has attended Blue Ridge for two years and wants a career in health care.
Spending time with kids reinvigorated about school is rewarding. But once you cut through all of the emotional appeals, you're left with the cold, hard facts:
Since its inception four years ago, Blue Ridge has become an increasing drain on Roanoke schools' budget, enrollment has fallen far short of expectations and while academic performance is solid, it isn't stellar.
Frankly, school officials have a reasonable expectation that students do well academically because they have smaller classes.
If officials decide next week to close Blue Ridge, they have a responsibility to ensure that its emphasis on technical education remains a well-defined option for the Blue Ridge students as they are eased back into Fleming and Patrick Henry.
Every student isn't college material, but as many as 80 percent of jobs in the 21st-century workplace will not require a degree but will require technical training, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
So Roanoke schools should maintain a structured technical education program that will give all students the skills to develop into productive adults.
"You can keep the concept alive without keeping the facility," interim superintendent Doris Ennis said last week. She's right.
After next week's decision, there may not be a Blue Ridge this fall. But there will be Taquita Taylors. Roanoke schools need to ensure they have a sound technical education to "make it" once they leave school.
