Technical School Gives Students A Jump-Start At Work Districts Prepare Teens For Business, College

At 16, Lakeland High School Junior Ceira Wisdom already knows she wants to be a paralegal.

And she knows what it’ll take to get her there.

Wisdom is one of about 16 students from the Lakeland, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene School districts in the first class of the Riverbend Professional Technical School - a joint venture by the districts to better prepare students for the business world and give them a jump on their college classes.

“The biggest thing you hear anymore is that you can’t get anywhere without college,” Wisdom said Tuesday, the first day of class at the North Idaho College Workforce Training Center.

The technical school consists of just one class this semester, a course in which students can be certified in the computer program Microsoft Office. But organizers soon hope to offer about six classes in the fields of computer and network systems technology, health services technology and engineering and construction technology.

“Business and industry certainly tells us that the economic need for talented, highly skilled young men and women is very important,” said Judy Drake, one of the project’s coordinators and the director of staff relations and community resources for the Coeur d’Alene School District. “The colleges and universities tell us that the incoming students need to be very highly skilled in technological areas. That’s a message we’re getting from all areas.”

Drake and others are writing a proposal to the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation to pay for the technical school. That grant money would supplement an initial $25,000 received from the state last summer.

Jobs Plus President Bob Potter, who works to recruit companies to Idaho, said business owners always ask him about the quality of education in the state before relocating.

“It’s not just important. It’s critical,” Potter said. “If we’re going to be successful in continuing to create decent jobs and attract companies that pay decent wage rates, we’re going to have to have a work force that is very competitive with the other areas of the United States.”

Currently, Potter said, area high schools and NIC must do a better job of preparing students for technological fields, not just for four-year institutions.

“What we’ve got to do is improve the employability of the young men and women in our high schools,” Potter said. “The communities that learn that are going to be the leaders … The technical academy, if it’s run right, will have to have an impact. It’s a step in the right direction.”

Heather Lalley can be reached at (208) 765-7132 or by e-mail at heatherl@spokesman.com.