Schools

Schools survey to gauge Pasco's business needs

The school district has a link to the survey on its Web site and is pleading for input.

By JEFFERY S. SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer
Published December 2, 2007

LAND O'LAKES - The Pasco school district has been seeking business leaders' input since September, as it prepares for a future of career academies that meet community needs.

But so far, just a handful have responded.

"We have only 20 responses so far, one of which is my husband's," School Board chairwoman Kathryn Starkey said. "If we don't know what the need is, we're going to be taking stabs in the dark."

That's not how school leaders want to plan as they create a five-year forecast for training students to enter high-wage, highly skilled jobs in local businesses. They hope to have more specific information from the community they serve.

So the district has put a link to its 20-minute survey on its Web site, www.pasco.k12.fl.us/haas.html, and has officials making personal pleas for more business owners to fill it out.

The state law mandating the five-year plans also requires community input. Some districts decided to use existing government statistics to guide them.

Pasco hired the Haas Institute at the University of West Florida to help gather more direct information.

"We want defensible data so we can move forward with confidence on the decisions we make," said Denise Sanderson, business retention manager for the Pasco Economic Development Council, which is working with the school district on the project. "This report is about making sure we talk with the community."

Sanderson speculated that the low response rate might have something to do with the business owners not understanding how important their comments are to the process.

"The businesses in the community don't understand the relevance that the survey is going to have," she said.

She and Rob Aguis, the school district's director of career education, are trying to fix that problem by visiting with business groups and explaining the need for their views and requesting their participation. They spoke to a Rotary Club on Friday, and Sanderson said the reaction was positive.

Starkey said a strong response rate is critical for the school district to get a true gauge on the training programs it needs to establish. Already, the district has set up an information technology institute, which is to be launched at Wiregrass Ranch High in January.

There also has been talk of creating a construction-themed institute at Pasco High.

But officials did not want to commit themselves to additional programs without first having the Haas Institute analysis of the job market in hand.

And the business survey is a key component of that report.

"It's a big experiment with taxpayer dollars," Starkey said. "I want data."

The survey is scheduled to end in mid December. The district must submit its five-year plan for career academies and institutes to the state by the end of June.

Sanderson said she hopes the business community steps up.

"The whole premise of this program is that is meets the needs of business," she said.

"Obviously, you can't do that if you're not communicating with them."

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or 813 909-4614. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.

[Last modified December 1, 2007, 21:05:31]