Any time the South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council conducts business, there are several educational institutions and intentions they must consider.
Among them: Todd County Public Schools, and their weave as part of the regional fabric.
During Monday afternoon’s meeting, first-year Superintendent and Todd County native Jessica Addison updated stakeholders on the future of the district — which does include growth in career and technical offerings both off and on campus.
Currently, Addison said Todd County Central High School students have major access to workforce development pathways at the Logan County Career and Technical Center, where students share seats with Logan County High School and Russellville High School.
Closer to home, she noted students have access to an advanced manufacturing and technology center.
The most participated pathway, she added, is agriculture, but hope brims for expansion.
But like other districts in the Commonwealth, Addison said that a barrier does remain between career and technical education, and the students so desperately seeking it.
And that’s pay.
Over the last six weeks, Addison said she has been in considerable contact with teachers, staff, students and constituents developing the district’s five-year plan — something that didn’t readily exist — and she said automotive and diesel mechanic pathways, as well as welding, are among some of the most requested for local supports.
Local industries, she said, have been requesting students be more prepared in soft skills — like written and interpersonal communication, timeliness, dependability, money management, social etiquette and more — so they are more work ready and responsible.
In order to focus on this, Addison said the district is in the middle of revitalizing a Graduate Profile program, where discussions of such first began just before the global pandemic before being shelved.
High school students do have access to both the Hopkinsville Community College “Early College” Program, as well as the popular HCC dual-credit program, and she said 13 students maintain a 3.91 GPA in the former, while 49 students maintain a 3.68 GPA in the latter.
Career readiness, she said, has also seeped into the eighth-grade levels.
Substitute teachers, and a solution
What happens when a school district doesn’t have enough substitute teachers? And how can the problem be solved?
Just ask Jessica Addison.
Todd County’s first-year superintendent shared a success story during Monday afternoon’s South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council meeting, where a conversation with students in her quarterly Student Advisory Council meeting led to a solution.
Brainstorming, she said, led to the creation of a recruitment video.
And away, she said, they went with it.
All the credit for this, she closed, goes to the kids.
Addison said it is a school’s job to “create space” for students to shine, and supports to shine, and that regional leaders should “keep showing up for kids,” because “they will surprise you.”
The video, about three minutes long, can be viewed here:
FULL DISCUSSION:
