CTE Policy Watch

By: Sabrina

I traveled to Cleveland yesterday to visit the Plain Dealer. We met with the education editor, and we had a wonderful visit. She knew how CTE has changed, but we were able to share more about the variety of programs our members are offering in the state of Ohio, as well as how we are training the future workforce by working with business and industry.

Brian Bachtel, Ohio ACTE president from Lakeshore Compact, Roscoe Schlachter (Cuyahoga Valley CC), and Howard Lawson (Akron City Schools), Chris and I discussed national and local trends. The education editor was very helpful in providing advice on the types of stories the paper is looking for, and she invited us to send her any information on trends, student success stories or new programs we are developing. If we had any students doing extraordinary things, we should send her information by e-mail, and they can always find space for those students to highlight CTE. She enjoyed meeting us and mentioned how helpful it is for her and the education reporters to have more resources to call about education! She admitted that when reporters are on deadline, they will call the sources they have, so this will help our members talk about CTE and its impact on education and the workforce.

The group appreciated  national ACTE representatives coming out and helping facilitate the meeting and building their relationships with the Plain Dealer because they haven’t covered much of CTE in the past. They realized how easy it was to sit down and share information. I mentioned if they have a major issue or event, they should contact the papers to discuss the issue or event. Newspapers are a great way to publicize events and important issues affecting CTE. My trip to Ohio has been a very successful one! I have four more cities left to visit in Ohio, and I’ll be traveling back in April.

By: Sabrina

Today Chris and I visited with the Columbus Dispatch and Columbus Business First to discuss CTE. In the morning, we met with three reporters from the Dispatch that cover education and higher education. During our discussion, we talked about the impact of the Adult CTE programs moving to the Regent system in January and how it will influence enrollment of students in the programs.

The reporters were knowledgeable about CTE, but they asked some interesting questions. I mentioned the green issue brief and C-TEC being included in the brief. I also talked about how CTE programs across the country are adapting their curriculum to the changing workforce. One of the reporters was interested in the data angle, and she is always looking for stories or information related to data that support the impact education has in the Columbus community. Chris and I made a note of that, and we are going to keep that in mind and pitch her stories that are data related. They were friendly and asking us for possible stories during the meeting. I would definitely recommend for members to have possible stories and data with you when you meet with reporters because you have their undivided attention.

After visiting the Dispatch, we had some time before our next meeting, so Chris took me on a tour of Ohio State’s campus including Woody Hayes Drive and The Shoe (football stadium). For anyone that knows me, I’m a sports fanatic, so I pulled out my camera and took some shots! Tonight we are going to have dinner with Tom Applegate, and Tom and Chris are both Ohio State alumni.

In the afternoon, we went to Eastern Market and met with the Columbus Business First. We had a great conversation about CTE and workforce development. The reporter talked about how she is always looking for trend stories and how an issue will impact business and the workforce. She has written several stories which included ACTE and OACTE, and it was nice to put a face to a name. She also mentioned when and when not to call her, and she is always open for us to call and pitch her stories. It was another great day of meetings and building relationships with reporters!

Good evening from the state of Ohio! I’m meeting with newspapers around the state talking about CTE, and so far it has been a success! Yesterday, I got in late and was extremely tired, so I’m going to give ya’ll a synopsis of my adventures from yesterday and today! This blog entry will be longer, and I’ll write tomorrow and Thursday about the rest of my meetings.

On Monday, Ohio ACTE Executive Director Christine Gardner and I traveled to Springfield for our first meeting. We encountered some locals at the 3 Stewgies, a small coffee and restaurant, and had some coffee. I called the reporter to double check our appointment, and she wasn’t feeling well, so we are going to have a teleconference call next week. I met with Dan Schroer (Butler Tech) and Robert Horrocks (Springfield Clark CTC), and we talked about their programs. We had some time before our lunch meeting, and we toured Springfield Clark CTC. I learned about its programs and how the school is using Perkins money, which is going to be useful for our staff as we lobby on Capitol Hill.

In Dayton, we went to a restaurant called Coco’s. It was recommended by Mary Beth Lehman, reporter for Dayton Business Journal, who we met with to discuss CTE. The lunch was fantastic, and the conversation went very well. During lunch we had Dan, Chris, Nancy Brown (Kettering City Schools), and Joyce Richards (Greene County), and they all talked about CTE and the current trends. During the meeting, Dan mentioned how they are building a new biomedical school because of the growing demand, and Ms. Lehman is going to pitch this as a story to her editors this week. We learned that she pitches story ideas to her editor on Thursdays and Fridays for the next week’s issue, and they love having an exclusive to stories.

Dan, Chris and I then headed to Middletown, Ohio, to meet with the Middletown News. The education reporter recently took over the beat, so we educated her about the CTE programs in the area. She had very little knowledge about CTE, so it was a great meeting to provide her with introductory information and details on the benefits of CTE.

Today, I met with the Cincinnati Enquirer, and it went very well. Chris, Robin White (Great Oaks), Bob Sommers (Butler Tech) and Maggie Hess (Warren County) were in the meeting. Both the education reporters we met with had an old school vision of CTE, including the stereotype that smart kids weren’t involved in CTE. The members did a wonderful job in educating the reporters about CTE, and I mentioned how CTE has grown in the last seven years. Our meeting was supposed to be 45 minutes long, but we ended up talking for one hour and 45 minutes!

During the meeting, the group discussed how all postsecondary education was moving to the University Board of Regents in January and all Ohio public universities are going to have universal numbering of courses and curriculum across-the-board. This was news to the reporters, and they are going to write an article on this new development as well as a couple of other important issues that came up during the meeting. I couldn’t have asked for a better meeting today! Hopefully, the next three meetings this week will continue to gain positive coverage on our CTE programs.

- Sabrina

Starting on Monday, I’m going on a road trip to Ohio visiting with members and newspapers to discuss the critical role that CTE plays in education, school reform and preparing a qualified workforce. The Ohio Association of Career and Technical Superintendents is sponsoring my trip, and I will be visiting eight different cities during the next year. Before I leave on my trip, I wanted to reach out to ACTE members in Ohio to see if there are any local issues that I need to bring up. Please let me know at skidwai@acteonline.org.

Here’s a list of newspapers that I’ll be meeting with next week:

· Springfield News Sun

· Dayton Business Journal

· Cincinnati Enquirer

· The Columbus Dispatch

· Columbus Business First

· Cleveland Plain Dealer

I’ll be blogging about my travels next week and reporting on any interesting findings. Ohio here I come!

–Sabrina