June 16th
Announcements and Reminders
 
Toast and Toast will be at Gilroy next Thursday. The 23rd. If you signed up you  are welcome to go.
 
Keith announced that he still needs a hula dancer for his party at 4:00 on Sunday, June 26th but that the party will be fun anyway. Come and join in!
 
Tim needs beer servers on the 4th of July. Sign up with him for a 2 hour shift.
 
 
Sandra introduced our speakers today from the Regional Occupational Program (ROP), Sheri Williams, Program Coordinator, Mark Hodges, Director of ROP and Jim Howes Assistant Director of the ROP.
 
 
Mr. Hodges explained that the idea originally was that kids who weren’t college bound needed to learn a skill. Now it is for everybody to get them exposed to their prospective careers as early as possible and ROP serves both college bound and non–college bound kids. Many courses are UC approved and others are articulated classes approved for Cabrillo where they get college credits while still at the HS level. Some facts: Only 30-40% of the kids in California enter a 4 year college or university. Only a third of the jobs available require a four year degree.
 
The ROP staff stressed that the best way for kids to learn is in a work place.  ROP provides this,  now called career technical education. Their offerings include construction technology, welding, graphic design, culinary arts, aquaculture, video production, fire technology, bicycle maintenance and repair, dental and medical assisting and web design. They said many things are now done on the computer, including computer based drafting. There are 133 classes in all.
There are 70 programs in California and all are standards based programs.  In our area, 94% of the students are high school and 6% are adults. It serves over 3,000 students. They employ over 50 teachers. Programs are offered at 19 different sites including fire departments, police departments and restaurants.  Most students come from PVUSD followed closely by Santa Cruz.
 
Ms. Williams explained what counselors do at all the comprehensive sites. She helps kids figure out what are their interests and does assessments to determine this. They also have magnet programs which aren’t restricted by school district lines.
Mr. Hodges closed by mentioning that local school districts now control the funding which will create some challenges for the future of ROP as priorities change.  For more information see www.santacuz.k12.ca.us