Lenape Tech Adds Half-Day Program

Lenape Vo-Tech Joint Operating Committee members were given an update last night on eight high school sophomores that have been taking classes part-time at the school. The school is currently accepting applications for sophomore, junior, and senior high students interested in the part-time model. The part-time enrollment is available starting in August for the 2012-13 school year.

by Jonathan Weaver

A handful of sophomore high school students are providing a model to what might become the next new wave of activity at Lenape Tech.

According to Administrator Dawn Kocher-Taylor, close to a dozen high school students from three of the technical school’s participating school districts – Armstrong, Leechburg Area, and Apollo-Ridge – expressed interest at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year and enrolled in some of Lenape’s 16 programs.

She said that number has since decreased, but that the interest is there.

“We started this school year with 10 part-time students – I think we’re done to eight; two from Leechburg, three from Apollo and three from Armstrong,” Kocher-Taylor said.

Currently, all eight are sophomores in their respective school districts.

Kocher-Taylor read a flier at the monthly Joint Operating Committee (JOC) meeting last night of what was distributed to local families at the beginning of the semester, which solicited the available pilot program that begins this August.

“Part-time students will share part of their day with Lenape Tech while spending the remainder of their day with their home school.”

The issue was last discussed in public in April 2011 before the JOC when Armstrong School District Superintendent Stan Chapp was the Superintendent of Record for Lenape. At that time, he disagreed with the notion of offering the part-time option.

“If you look at half-time options, you have to look at half-time for 11^th and 12^th, and that’s a very broad question that needs a lot of discussion,” Chapp said in April. “Once you start looking into moving more than a few courses into 10^th grade, you’re really talking about a part-time program in three years, and then it effects everyone’s budget and other philosophical, scheduling and programming things, so it’s not just a simple thing to start adding courses.”

Current Superintendent Chris DeVivo is aware of the opportunity and has discussed it with the administrator privately.

In April 2011, 10 students reportedly requested to attend programs part-time that were outside of the Computer Information Technology curriculum, at which time that Kocher-Taylor was in favor of the implementation.

“I said I thought that if we really wanted to try this, that it would be a good time to do it,” Kocher-Taylor said last night.

The issue was also discussed at the beginning of 2010 and created a firestorm among students, educators and parents.

During the JOC meeting in February 2010, the school auditorium was filled with negative feedback about the proposed option to implement both a half-day and full-day program. After listening to public disapproval and disagreement among some of the participating school districts, the JOC voted unanimously to keep the full-day option, while exploring the addition of a half-day possibility.

It was originally discussed to try and enhance the technical school’s educational opportunities while protecting the integrity of the full-day program.

Armstrong School District Lenape Representative D. Royce Smeltzer brought the matter before the close of last night's meeting and inquired about its implementation, cost and transportation expenses.

Kocher-Taylor said the eight-student implementation has caused some transportation issues so far.  

“Sometimes its difficult to let the bell schedules mesh – the Apollo-Ridge students eat their lunches on the van because of the bell schedules, we have Armstrong students that are here for two periods, three periods or four periods, so each of the kids have different schedules, but because we have so few of them, it’s based on their individual needs,” Kocher-Taylor said. “We’ve been able to be very customized with these kids.”

However, that might change.

“If it grows, that customization might diminish a little bit,” Kocher-Taylor said.

Transportation is currently provided for Armstrong and Apollo-Ridge students, while Leechburg offers a van to transport their part-time students.

The participating school districts are reportedly billed by how long the students are at the technical school.

JOC President Joseph Close – who represents the Armstrong School District – said his son, Dominic, was eager to participate in the welding program earlier this year.

“When he knew he could do that, he was in,” Close said.

In 2010, Close was skeptical of the half-day opportunity for fear the school would shift entirely to half-day. The notion was also supported by former Leechburg Area School board member Chuck Pascal.

Armstrong School District Representative D. Royce Smeltzer expressed particular attention to the issue, which he addressed before adjournment last night.

“I was happy to see that, but I was surprised,” Smeltzer said.

Parents of the part-time students were invited to Parent Night festivities Thursday, February 16 to ask questions or speak with counselors. Interested students can also contact the school’s guidance office at 724-763-7116 (ext. 3304) for additional information.

Kocher-Taylor said she will keep the board informed.

“I’ll come to the Board when I see if students are interested – I know (Smeltzer) has some interest in that, so put some feelers out and see what happens,” Kocher-Taylor said. “Right now, it’s been small enough that I think we did an excellent job at giving those kids what they need.”

Kocher-Taylor hopes to get a gauge for how many part-time students will be enrolled at Lenape Tech by April.

On February 18, 2010, the Armstrong School District Lenape Represenatives Dr. James Solak, D. Royce Smeltzer, and Joseph Close discussed with the Joint Operating Committee the plan to create a “hybrid” system that would permit students to choose whether they wish to attend Lenape Tech for half-day or full-day classes. Solak, in favor of half-day, cited 367 school districts across the state that offer half-day programs compared to the 90 that offer full-day. Close, in favor of keeping full-day classes, was skeptical that the new hybrid system would eventually eliminate the full-day program. Then JOC President Meredith Christy projected Lenape’s enrollment would increase from 400 students to as many as 700 students if the half-day alternative was implemented. Beginning in August 2012, students will be able to choose. (2010 KP file photo)

Bank Donates Toward Vo-Tech

Lenape Vo-Tech Joint Operating Committee members further discussed upgrading their audio taping of monthly meetings, but the motion was dismissed after learning it would cost approximately $9,500.

by Jonathan Weaver

A local bank has donated toward future programs within a technical school in Ford City.

Farmers and Merchants Bank has donated $9,250 toward Lenape Vo-Tech through the Department of Community and Economic Development. Lenape Vo-Tech Administrator Dawn Kocher-Taylor said that the funding is required to go toward integrating technology into curriculum.

School officials are still considering ways to utilize the funding.

Joint Operating Committee members also further discussed audio taping of their monthly board meetings.

Kocher-Taylor began the discussion.

“I have a draft policy – the determining factor would be how much you want to invest to get the same quality recording in any area that we have our meeting; the quality would be addressed through one of the largest costs: the microphones and the speakers,” Kocher-Taylor said. “If you chose to ensure the quality was the same in this room, a classroom or the cafeteria, for the microphones, mixer and speakers, we were looking at a maximum of $9,475 – it could be less, but we don’t see it being any more than that.”  

Board members began discussing the policy last year when D. Royce Smeltzer, who represents the Armstrong School District, requested audio of a meeting. Audio was available, but its quality was not translatable. Requests are occasionally made by other board members and public residents.

It was discussed that audio files were would be kept for two years instead of three months as originally requested.

Sara Yassem is one of three representatives to sit on the Joint Operating Committee of Lenape Tech, representing the Armstrong School District.

Smeltzer finalized the discussion after hearing the price.

“I’m dropping my request – I can do it cheaper than $9, 000,” Smeltzer said. Smeltzer aimed to purchase a portable digital audio recorder for meetings.

Solicitor Lee Price said Smeltzer’s decision would be legal.

“Any JOC member – in fact, any member of the public – can tape record open meetings, but can not record executive sessions unless a majority give that permission,” Price said.

Board members unanimously approved to dismiss the discussion .

Kocher-Taylor also welcomed three new representatives to the board at their last meeting, including Jean Stull of the Leechburg School District, Dan Lukovich of the Freeport Area School District and Sara Yassem of the Armstrong School District.

Committee members are scheduled to meet again this Thursday at 7PM at the technical school.