Partnership Provides A Jolt To Schoolwork Federal School-To-Work Grant For Kootenai Group

This morning, high school students will test their skills by racing electric vehicles they designed and built.

But before the “Electrathon” starts at Silver Lake Mall, one of its sponsors will celebrate its own ability to get off the mark.

The Kootenai Business Education Partnership has received a $632,469 School-to-Work grant. The federal money will be spent over the next four years to help prepare the county’s young people for careers.

The partnership has two goals, according to Bob Henninger, regional School-to-Work facilitator. The first is to make the lessons of reading, writing and arithmetic more rigorous, so students have the skills they need to compete in the job market.

“The other is to enhance relevancy,” Henninger said. “Hopefully, in 10 years, kids in Kootenai County won’t be asking ‘Why do I have to learn this?”’

The four-year grant was the first one given in Idaho to a business-education partnership. Participants are the school districts and chambers of commerce from Rathdrum, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene.

Students, parents, business people and educators advise the partnership. They’ll decide how the grant will be spent, said Henninger.

“It’s seed money,” he said.

A lot of it will be spent on staff development, said Erin O’Regan, the partnership’s co-chair.

“What we’re trying to do is really concentrate on what’s going to sustain us after the money is gone,” she said.

Student advisers to the partnership are excited at the change of direction.

They want to know that their school work is meaningful, she said.

She spoke of attending a job fair recently. Of the juniors and seniors attending, “easily 95 percent of them had no clue what they were going to do after high school.”

Some people have criticized School-to-Work for forcing students into a particular career path, or away from college. That’s not the case, according to Henninger.

“Mainly you’re trying to help kids understand their strengths, their weaknesses and that motivation plays a part in this (career choice),” he said.

“It’s entirely voluntary.”

The Electrathon project, which the partnership is co-sponsoring with Sears, is an example of applied learning.

Student competitors learn about physics, technical writing and teamwork, Henninger said.

“The race spurs on more learning. They’ll go back after it and decide what to do to improve for next time.”

As an example of how the grant’s “seed money” works, Henninger said, the partnership expects Electrathon participants will get business sponsors for their cars in future races.

“We’re asking, ‘How do we make this sustainable?”’ said Henninger.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Events Today’s Kootenai Business Partnership celebration will start at 10:30 a.m., and the Electrathon race at 11 a.m., in the Ernst parking lot at the Silver Lake Mall. Twenty teams from North Idaho, Eastern Washington and Montana will compete.