(PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
PRESENTATION … Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted and Pike-Delta-York Schools Superintendent Jon Burke stand together during the ceremony held to celebrate the awarding of $2.5 million to the school for its Career Technical Education Initiatives. The two are holding an award that explains the purpose of the money to the Pike-Delta-York School District.
By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
This past week, Ohio’s Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced that Pike-Delta-York Schools would be receiving funding in the amount of $2.5 Million for Career Technical Education Initiatives.
The announcement took place during the Lt. Governor’s visit to the school on Wednesday, September 25th. A ceremony was held at the high school for the announcement and was attended by local business owners who specialize in various career fields, as well as several other organization leaders and local government officials.
The funding was received as part of a larger initiative throughout the State of Ohio that saw a total of 34 schools receive funding for their education programs.
The Pike-Delta-York school district received its funding to help support its new groundbreaking career and technical education initiatives.
The investment, the largest received by any of the 34 schools, will also help to advance the district’s commitment to preparing students for high-demand careers by enhancing hands-on learning and career opportunities.
As stated during the ceremony and included in a press release put out by school officials, the awarded funds will be used to create state-of-the-art facilities.
“The awarded funds will be used to build a state-of-the-art Career Explorations Lab at the middle school, offering students early exposure to various career fields and skills.”
“This initiative will foster interest and readiness for future technical and vocational careers, ensuring students are equipped with the tools they need to succeed in today’s dynamic job market.”
“Additionally, PDY Schools plans to launch a comprehensive farm-to-table initiative by constructing a greenhouse and an industrial kitchen. This program will provide students with real-world experience in agriculture, sustainability, culinary arts, and food science.”
“By engaging students in the entire food production process—from growing ingredients to preparing meals—the initiative will promote healthy, sustainable practices while building valuable career skills.”
“The district will also transform its current industrial arts lab into a cutting-edge Innovation Lab, which will feature a virtual heavy equipment operator simulator, industry-grade metal fabrication equipment, and advanced engineering design tools.”
“These upgrades will create an immersive, hands-on learning environment, allowing students to develop critical skills in advanced manufacturing, engineering, and design. This modernized lab will empower students to explore and excel in high-demand industries and trades.”
“PDY Schools’ expansion of career technical education will support the district’s ongoing efforts to offer innovative educational experiences that meet the needs of both students and the community.”
“These projects will help students build valuable skills, engage in real-world problem-solving, and prepare for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow’s workforce.”
During the time spent at Pike-Delta-York, the Lt. Governor spoke about the initiative that will be giving the school its funding, along with why they were chosen and how the future looks for Ohio.
“We’re giving around $30 million in grants for machinery and equipment for career and technical education in our high schools, and the Delta schools were the biggest winner.”
“They got a $2.5 million grant that’s going to help expand their agricultural and mechanical programs here”, stated Husted.
“It’s gonna help support local agricultural jobs and businesses. It’s gonna help support the manufacturing economy here, and it’s just super important that we highlight the value of career technical education and how if you go through a career tech program, you’ll graduate high school career-ready, and you’ll march out debt-free and into a new job, and the career tech is really the best value in education and we wanna highlight all the great career paths that are available.”
“What’s happening is that a lot of our career centers are filling up, and so we’re looking to some of the traditional schools to provide career tech programming and Delta had a really good proposal.”
“It was competitive, it was supported by the local industries that said, hey, we’re gonna be in partnership with Delta on this so, when the high school students graduate, we’re gonna hire them and that’s a big part of why they were a winner.”
“In Ohio right now our economy is growing so fast we have three jobs for every one person looking for a job, so we have more jobs than people to fill them. That means that a career tech education is more important now than ever.”
“Students can earn a great living, and many times get hired before they even graduate high school, and your local employers get the talent that they need.”
“In Northwest Ohio, it’s super important to find places for your young people to go to work before they graduate high school, that way they don’t leave and go somewhere else. You can keep them right there in their local economy.”
Superintendent Burke also spoke and explained that the money received will be a game changer for the district. “We’re excited. This is a game-changer for us. The Middle School career exploration lab will be completely new. So that serves all new kids”, began Burke.
“We average 100 kids per grade level so, you know, in theory, that’s 400 kids right off the bat that we’re serving, that we’re not hitting in this area right now.”
“So, our big vision here is to create a funnel of kids who are going into fifth and sixth grade. Let’s expose them to as many career opportunities as we possibly can.”
“As they get into their freshman and sophomore year, let’s let them dive a little bit further, and then by junior and senior year, can we get a pre-apprenticeship program? They’re doing college credit plus.”
“What can we start doing to help them be debt-free, whether they’re going to college, career, or starting their own business. What can we do to let them be debt free entering the job force and go into the career that they want to, and hopefully we’ve given them enough opportunities.”
Superintendent Burke also spoke about the upcoming levy initiative the school is working on. “As a school district currently on the ballot for the renewal of an operating levy at $1.3 million, I have to address the big question mark that I’m going to be getting in the next couple weeks. With this grant why do we still need a levy?”
“The answer is really simple. This grant is a one-time capital investment, designed to launch programs we believe are essential to our student’s future success.”
“However, were still left to operate, maintain, and staff these programs. We can continue to provide these opportunities without increasing local taxes. Ensuring long-term sustainability for our students.”
