BESE to consider career courses

Nearly two dozen high school courses of study for nursing, carpentry, car repair and other jobs will be submitted to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for final approval in October.
State Superintendent of Education John White says it’s the first wave of Louisiana’s overhaul of its career education system.
The new program, which is called Jump Start, is designed to give high school juniors and seniors a way to earn national industry credentials and a newly-crafted Jump Start Career Diploma, White said.
BESE approved the overhaul in March, and is expected to consider final approval in October of the first 23 career pathways submitted by the Graduation Pathway Review Panel. The (Baton Rouge) Advocate reports the Legislature this year provided $12 million to boost career education.
Those 23 routes to various occupations were submitted by regional teams of school districts, colleges and economic development teams.
The three Jump Start Regional Teams that submitted this first wave of proposed graduation pathways included parishes bordering St. Mary: the Greater Acadiana team consisting of education and industry representatives from Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes; the Capitol Region team consisting of nine parishes in and around Baton Rouge; and the Gulf River parishes team consisting of education and industry representatives from seven parishes between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. There are 11 active Jump Start Regional Teams across the state, encompassing all parishes.
St. Mary belongs to Bayou Regional Team along with Assumption, Lafourche and Terrebonne. Pete Boudreaux, Supervisor of Career, Technical and Alternative Education, is the contact person for St. Mary.
Post-secondary partners are Fletcher Technical Community College, Nicholls State University and South Central Louisiana Technical College.
Industry partners are South Louisiana Economic Council, South Central Industrial Association, Bollinger Shipyards, Business First Bank, Candies Shipbuilders, Edison Chouset Offshore, Gulf Island Fabrication, Hutco, John Deere Thibodaux, KB Machine, Manpower, Oceaneering, Oceanwide, Terrebonne General Medical Center and Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.
Boudreaux said the Bayou Region met several times with the Department of Education representatives and industry people.
“We’ve discussed the statewide pathways such as the welding, and we’re going to create some regional pathways as well. We’ll probably enter into some partnerships with other regions as well,” Boudreaux said.
Students have to earn 23 units for a traditional high school diploma.
For the Jump Start diplomas, at least nine of the 23 have to be in the field picked to earn the new specialty diploma, which can include high school courses, dual-enrollment college classes, internships and industry training. The pathways amount to a course of study students need to finish to earn one of 35 credentials.
Boudreaux described the nine units needed for the degree as being chosen from a “bucket list of courses.”
Because course offerings vary between high schools within a single parish and four parishes are involved in the Bayou Region, a list of about 30 approved courses will be available to choose from for a particular career path.
Boudreaux used the example of carpentry. Morgan City High offers courses in carpentry, but Berwick High does not, he said. However, Berwick High does offer agriscience. So, Berwick students could take ag courses and then work with Morgan City for the carpentry courses, all with an eye toward achieving the units needed to graduate with the career diploma, Boudreaux said.
Statewide programs likely to be available here include welding, carpentry, certified nursing assistant, emergency medical responder, pro start (culinary) and T2 safety and production (oilfield), Boudreaux said.
Meanwhile, regional pathways being considered include business-related, agriscience pathways.
Additional jobs across the state include Web design professional, industrial maintenance mechanic, fashion design for costume and film, collision repair and manufacturing specialist.
Students are required to achieve pre-approved industry-based certifications in order to graduate with the career diploma, Boudreaux said.
He noted that a student can be enrolled in TOPS and career pathways at the same time, theoretically.
“It would be tough, but you could do it,” he said.
However, a student enrolled only in the career pathway would not be eligible for TOPS.
“The career diploma is designed to either get you working or get you to a technical school. There are so many jobs out there that don’t require the four-year diploma and can make you a lot of money,” Boudreaux said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.