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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2008)
At Willamette Carpenters Training Center Trades charter school will open this fall A new charter school in East Mult- nomah County is partnering with ap- prenticeship training programs to of- fer classes focusing on construction trades, engineering and architecture. The Academy for Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) will open its doors in September to 250 high school juniors. Enrollment could double the following year when both juniors and seniors will attend. The academy will operate out of the Willamette Carpenters Training Center, 4222 NE 158th Ave., Portland. ACE is the brainchild of the Ore- gon Building Congress, an organiza- tion that for years has brought to- gether teachers, businesses, public agencies and training programs to in- crease the quality and diversity of ap- plicants entering the building industry. OBC has partnered with Reynolds, Centennial, Parkrose and Gresham- Barlow school districts, and five ap- prenticeship training programs — WCTC, the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center, the HVAC & Metals b h m k Institute of Sheet Metal Workers Lo- cal 16, the Northwest Laborers-Em- ployers Training Trust, and the open shop Northwest College of Construc- tion — to create the new school. Reynolds School District is the ac- tual sponsor of the charter. Charter schools are independently run, but publicly funded. ACE has its own board of directors who formulate poli- cies, curriculum and budgets. Among the board members is Ken Fry, direc- tor of the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center. John Steffens, director of the Willamette Carpenters Training Cen- ter (and vice president of OBC), and Ric Olander, president of Sheet Metal Workers Local 16, also serve on com- mittees that will hire teachers and es- tablish the curriculum at ACE. Students will follow A Day/B Day schedules, receiving core classes at their home schools on on day, then at- tending the academy the next. The two-year program will offer gradua- tion credits in math, science and Eng- Bennett Hartman Morris & Kaplan, llp Attorneys at Law Oregon’s Full Service Union Law Firm Representing Workers Since 1960 Serious Injury and Death Cases • Construction Injuries • Automobile Accidents • Medical, Dental, and Legal Malpractice • Bicycle and Motorcycle Accidents • Pedestrian Accidents • Premises Liability (injuries on premises) • Workers’ Compensation Injuries • Social Security Claims We Work Hard for Hard-Working People! 111 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1650 Portland, Oregon 97204 (503) 227-4600 www.bennetthartman.com Our Legal Staff are Proud Members of UFCW Local 555 MARCH 7, 2008 lish, as well as opportunities to intern and job shadow. All juniors will take construction courses to learn the ba- sics, As seniors, they can specialize in architecture, engineering or one of the trades. “This is project-based learning. Students won’t be sitting around at a table. They will be learn- ing by doing,” Dick O’- Connor, executive director of OBC told the NW La- bor Press. Students will be organ- ized into small “work crews,” with four or five crews creating a learning group. Two learning groups will be anchored to a certified teacher and a technical edu- cation instructor. O’Connor said 140 applicants have applied for the six teaching posts. ACE faculty will consist of a state certified t eachers for math, science and English, plus three instructors with skills in either construction, ar- chitecture or engineering. “We should be able to hire some fabulous teachers,” O’Connor said. At an open house for students and parents last month, Mike Taylor, a re- tired superintendent from Parkrose High School and the newly-hired principal of ACE, said that in addition to the teachers, students will have ac- cess to the training centers. “These are state-of-the-art facili- ties with top-notch computer labs and CAD labs,” Taylor said. “The HVAC Institute has some of the best math art on its walls that I’ve ever seen. It’s a wonderful facility.” “This is a resource I guarantee you no other school can provide,” he said. A trades charter school has been in Q the works for several years. “We sat down with industry and educators, shared our ideas and de- sires, and found we could really help each other by building this school,” O’Connor said. “The collaboration on The Willamette Carpenters Train- ing Center has remodeled about 7,000 square feet of its second floor to ac- commodate students this fall. It is al- ready talking about adding six more classrooms, a library, new restrooms this has been phenomenal,” Fry, a past president of OBC, said that in 2006 the organization pre- sented its plan to Portland Public Schools, but was turned down ... twice. OBC then took its proposal to school districts in East Multnomah County, where poverty rates are high and schools are busting at the seams. “The reception there was quite differ- ent,” Fry said. Reynolds School District Superin- tendent Terry Kneisler was eager to listen, Fry said. Meetings were arranged with administrators from other school districts in the area, and the result is the new charter school. “My initial reaction was, ‘someone pinch me, I can’t believe this is finally happening,’ “ Steffens told the NW Labor Press. ACE is leasing space for three years from the Willamette Carpenters Training Center, which is located in the Reynolds School District. If all goes as planned and it performs to state standards, ACE can apply for an- other five-year grant. and a meeting hall with a serving kitchen that can seat up to 200 people. Applications to ACE are available at high school counseling offices. Each school is guaranteed placing a certain number of students based on its enrollment. If schools don’t fill their slots by March 15 they will be redistributed. If there are more appli- cants than space, students will be se- lected by lottery. The only require- ment is that applicants be a junior with at least a 2.0 grade point average. “This is not an experiment,” Taylor said at the open house. “Everything has been demonstrated to be an ac- ceptable practice. 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OBC’s Dick O’Connor said talks are ongoing with the affiliated training programs and the state apprenticeship office as to whether ACE grads will be allowed direct entry into training programs. “Our hope is to provide direct en- try. But it’s not official yet,” said John Steffens, director of the Willamette Carpenters Training Center. Ken Fry of the NECA-IBEW Elec- trical Training Center and Ric Olander of the HVAC & Metals Institute told the NW Labor Press that graduates may not get direct entry into their pro- grams, but they’ll definitely have a leg up on other applicants. “Entry is being discussed,” Fry said. “It depends on the trade and what each training center wants to do.” Currently, graduates from Benson High School in Portland and from the Clark County Skills Center in Van- couver, Wash., can apply to the Elec- trical Training Center monthly, while others can apply only during open en- rollment, which takes place twice a year. PAGE 3
