Building site becomes training ground

Along with the new school buildings, the construction projects planned for Spokane Public Schools will give students several opportunities for on-the-job training.

The district recently adopted a policy to create an apprenticeship training program. As part of the program, contractors will set a goal of using apprentices for a percentage of the district’s upcoming construction work. A certain number of slots will be reserved for recent district graduates, and contractors working on the projects will provide job-shadow opportunities, guest lectures and field trips for high schoolers in Spokane Schools’ pre-apprenticeship program.

The apprenticeship program also must make an effort to recruit under-represented groups, like women and minorities, into the construction trades.

“We want there to be a seamless pathway for students from high school to a $30,000-a-year working scholarship,” said Associate Superintendent Mark Anderson. “We want to do this for our young people, so that they’ll stay here.”

The idea was pushed forward by the Spokane Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of churches and labor unions, which wanted to make good use of the district’s planned building projects by providing opportunities that would benefit the community and keep graduates in town. Voters approved a $165 million bond for Spokane Schools last year, the first phase of a 25-year plan to redo the district’s aging buildings.

After six months of study and discussion, district officials brought together representatives from local union apprenticeship programs and non-union contractors – two generally adversarial groups. Everyone agreed there was a common goal.

“We thought it might be a holy war, very political, union/non-union,” said Brenda Tudor, pastor of United Methodist Church and a member of the Spokane Alliance. “But people see the opportunities to train replacement workers. Spokane is taking a very progressive step.”

As opposed to the state, which made apprentices a requirement on its construction projects, the district listened to the concerns of contractors.

“We said, ‘Let’s join hands and have it be a goal,’ ” Anderson said.

Implementation of the new apprenticeship program hinges on the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council approving a policy change that would make apprenticeship training programs accessible to all contractors, regardless of union or non-union affiliation. In Spokane, about 60 percent of the contractors are with non-union affiliated firms, Anderson said. Only a few non-union apprenticeship training programs have been approved in Spokane.

The apprenticeship training council is expected to approve the change next month.

“It’s a good thing and a vital thing,” Jim DeWalt, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors, said of the apprenticeship program. “It’s no secret that a large proportion of our population will be retiring soon. It’s mandatory that a trained work force be available.”

And while numbers within the profession dwindle, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts excellent job opportunities in the construction industry. Jobs in construction are expected to grow nationally about 15 percent – adding 1.1 million new jobs – through 2012, compared with the 16 percent projected for all industries combined, the Bureau’s Web site states.

Besides helping to create a trained work force for the future, contractors are interested in the program because apprentices are paid a lower wage than other workers, Anderson said. Still, depending on the craft, apprentices can make up to $30,000 a year.

The new apprenticeship program will be used with the district’s upcoming projects, approved by voters in the 2003 bond: the replacement of Lidgerwood, Lincoln Heights and Ridgeview elementary schools, the renovation and expansion of Rogers High School, the modernization of Shadle Park High School, the new gym/fitness/health facility at Ferris High School and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades at North Central High School. Construction for the first projects – the three elementary schools and Ferris’ health facility – is scheduled to start in early 2005.

Other school districts in Washington are piloting similar programs, but on a more limited basis.

Spokane Schools officials set a goal of having 15 percent of the total labor hours performed by apprentices from a state-approved apprenticeship program. And, for every $5 million of total project cost, Spokane Public Schools gets to pick one of the district’s qualified graduates to work on district construction projects while they are enrolled in a state-approved apprenticeship program.

That means, for instance, eight students for Rogers, eight for Shadle and three for each of the elementary schools.

To be eligible for the apprenticeship program, applicants must be 18 or older, a high school graduate, and must have passed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Other program specifics are being worked out.

Besides providing opportunities for high school graduates, the apprenticeship program also aims to change the way people think about those in the construction industry. Among many, there has been an attitude of construction work being the second choice, the route to take if you can’t get into college, Anderson said. But the truth is, construction workers make better money than many college graduates.

“Many people don’t realize how much the industry has changed, through techniques and technologies. There was a time that anyone with a pickup and a level could call themselves a contractor,” said DeWalt. “Now, we’re competing for the top students like the colleges are.”

Electricians, for example, have to know how to wire a plug so it doesn’t explode, but also have to take into consideration DSL lines for computer hook-ups.

“It’s become a highly skilled trade,” DeWalt said. “And people are rewarded accordingly.”