Tech center to close, but that’s a sign of progress

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

One of the Clark County School District's popular vocational programs will soon cease to exist, arguably a victim of its own success.

The Area Trade Technical Center in North Las Vegas, which offers vocational training and career programs to juniors and seniors enrolled at comprehensive high schools elsewhere in the district, will close at the end off the 2008-09 academic year. The program's final crop of juniors began classes this week.

Next year, only seniors will be enrolled.

Kathleen Frosini, director of career and technical education for the district, said Clark County students will ultimately have a longer list of career and technical programs to choose from at more convenient locations.

"We're expanding the options, not narrowing them," said Frosini, who opened the center as its principal in 1982.

The success of the center is one of the reasons the district launched its push for more career and technical high schools, Frosini said. And that, in turn, is what drove the decision to phase out the center.

The district has long planned its shift away from traditional vocational programs to career and technical education, which places an equal emphasis on academics and job training. The dropout rate for students in the district's career and technical programs is 2.8 percent, less than half of the districtwide average.

The Southeast Career and Technical Academy, formerly known as Vo-Tech, has one of the district's best pass rates on the state proficiency exams, as well as a stellar graduation rate.

The new Northwest Career and Technical Academy opened Monday, and four more campuses are planned for the next two years. Some popular programs, such as culinary arts and transportation, will be offered at several campuses. But each school will also offer programs unique to that site as a way of attracting a more diverse student population from throughout Clark County.

At the trade and technical center, students attend either morning or afternoon classes in subjects such as electronics and welding.

Some students come from nearby high schools ; others commute from as far away as Moapa Valley and Boulder City.

To be sure, the students served by the center represent a small fraction of the district's student population - 5 percent of the more than 12,000 seniors expected to graduate in 2008.

Cynthia Morris, who is starting her seventh year as the center's principal, said enrollment has dropped to about 500 students from a high of about 620 a few years ago, in part because of new magnet programs at comprehensive high schools.

But the center has continued to serve a niche student population. Students who might be overlooked at their larger comprehensive high schools have an opportunity to shine at the center, where the small classes encourage participation.

"The kids got confidence here - they were successful at something they enjoyed doing," Morris said.

Students are ineligible for the program unless their academic grades pass muster. The class of 2007 earned more than $100,000 in scholarships to continue their educations. Several of the school's current teachers are graduates themselves.

"They can go out , get a decent job and, in some cases, help support their families," Morris said. "Or they can go on to college if they choose to."

Woodworking students built the glass-fronted display cabinet in the principal's office. And the whimsical dinosaurs in the campus atrium were crafted from leftover pipes and scrap metal by the welding classes.

George Zapeda, a senior at Desert Pines High School, said he's learned enough in his electronics classes at the center to fix a few radios and a telephone at home.

Did he impress his family with his technical abilities?

"Actually, I did," Zepeda says with a grin.

The technical center's Brooks Avenue campus, just off Commerce Street, will become the new home of the district's Adult Education program, which is currently sharing space and portable classrooms at the site. Adult Ed was moved during the summer , and the old buildings will be demolished to make room for a new career and technical academy.

Not all students want to commit to the rigors of a magnet program at a comprehensive high school or full-time career academy. The career and technical center provides students with a chance to explore areas of interest in smaller doses.

Amber Brown, a junior at Canyon Springs High School, said Tuesday she's always been fascinated by what goes on inside computers. But she also loves Canyon Springs and had no interest in transferring. The chance to enroll in a computer networking class at the trade and technical center, without having to leave her regular school, was the perfect solution, Brown said.

"I like having that choice," Brown said. "It's too bad they're not going to keep doing this."

Edward Goldman, associate superintendent of education services for the district, said the Adult Education program has long lacked a vocational component. When it inherits the center's campus, Adult Ed will have the facilities to offer such classes, Goldman said. Students at regular high schools may even be eligible to sign up, provided it does not conflict with their academic schedules, Goldman said.

"There will still be plenty of opportunities for students who want to take these kinds of classes, they're just going to come in a different form," Goldman said.