Career academy on horizon

Students will have a choice of specialized training at each of the county's high schools.

By TOM MARSHALL, Times Staff Writer
Published December 18, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - For decades, the high school experience in Hernando County has been marked by pride and turf.

If your family went to Hernando High, tradition said you wouldn't think of going to Central High even if you could.

But soon, high-schoolers in Hernando County will get something that few districts in crowded Florida can offer: a choice of schools.

By the time school opens next year, all four of the county's high schools will have a new "career academy" designed to train students for high-paying careers, superintendent Wayne Alexander said.

And if a student's dream program happens to be at a different school, he added, the student can switch.

"Kids will go where they want to," he said. "I don't see why not."

At 7 p.m. today, the Hernando County School Board will meet at Nature Coast Technical High School for a workshop on vocational and technical offerings at that school and others in the county. Officials say changes are already in the works.

By August, Alexander said, Hernando High will have a new career academy for agricultural and preveterinarian sciences. Central High will have an academy in allied health; Springstead will have one for Web-based design; and Nature Coast Technical High will have one specializing in technology.

Most of those programs already exist in some fashion at those schools, as do other vocational or technical programs. But under the new Career Academies model approved by the state Legislature last spring, they'll get a new lease on life.

By law, every school district must soon have at least one intensive, career-oriented program to train students for "high-growth, high-demand, high-pay" jobs.

All academies must be staffed by industry-certified teachers, and students must have the chance to earn the highest available level of industry certification.

In Okaloosa County, where the model was pioneered, high school graduates leave school with certifications to work on jet engines and mainframe computers.

In addition to aerospace and information technology, the district produces graduates with industry certification in hospitality, construction technology, creative arts, and trades such as carpentry and electrical work.

In Hernando, Alexander said, every student will eventually choose a career academy once more programs are developed.

"That's what the purpose of school is, believe it or not," he said. "To prepare you for the world of work."

And once the new "EEE high school" opens off U.S. 19 and Hexam Road in the fall of 2010, officials say, there will be enough space in the district to allow 100 percent school choice at the high school level.

That means students can follow their dreams, wherever they might lead.

Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or 352 848-1431.

[Last modified December 17, 2007, 20:04:25]