The Aromas-San Juan Unified School District School Board voted
Wednesday to approve construction on a facility designed to house
vocational education classes at Anzar High School, which educators
hope will foster more programs focused on teaching students
marketable skills for life beyond graduation.
San Juan Bautista – The Aromas-San Juan Unified School District School Board voted Wednesday to approve construction on a facility designed to house vocational education classes at Anzar High School, which educators hope will foster more programs focused on teaching students marketable skills for life beyond graduation.
“Is the emphasis still on giving every student an opportunity to go to college after graduation? Absolutely,” said Superintendent Jackie Munoz. “But this gives them another opportunity to grow in different ways … Maybe they’ll start with a vocational program here and decide that they’d rather attend a four-year school. Really, it’s about giving our students a well-rounded education.”
Trustees voted unanimously to go forward with construction, which effectively uses the last funds from a 2002 school bond. Educators say the decision was inspired by repeated suggestions from parents and the academic community to offer more vocational education options for students.
Schools all over the state are beginning to offer more vocational classes after years of stressing college preparatory classes. But educators say that such classes are useful not only for students who either cannot or have no desire to attend a university, they provide additional job options for students during and after their pursuit of higher education.
“This is really very exciting,” said Anzar Principal Charlene McKowen. “It will allow us to move some classes that really need a new facility, and hopefully we can begin to offer some new classes as well.”
The new vocational education building will allow Anzar’s video production class to be held in a new media lab – currently the class is held in a small room in the library. And while the computers are new, they are shared by three or four students at a time, and work often is done in the larger area of the library. The photography class may also move out of the studio it currently shares with the visual arts program.
The building will also feature two large classrooms, one for a culinary arts program and another for a wood and drafting class, which are consistently among the most popular classes over Anzar’s intersession period – a two-week program that offers students a crash-course in the discipline of their choice, such as creative writing or psychology.
“We’ve been using intersession as a way to gauge student interest,” McKowen said. “And we also want to offer classes that teach the most marketable skills after graduation.”
Anzar hopes the two new vocational classes offered will be a part of the California Regional Occupation Program, a state effort that helps fund vocational classes taught by teachers who have considerable “real-world” experience in the field. Currently, the Video Production and Photography classes are the only ROP classes available at Anzar.
The new structure will cost approximately $2 million and effectively uses the last available funds from the 2002 bond, Measure S. Anzar expects the first ground to be broken in early spring, and the facility will be available for student use come spring 2007.
While Anzar is just beginning to see their vocational program take off, San Benito High School boasts a flourishing vocational education program and has for many years. SBHS offers courses in fields ranging from restaurant management to child development to agriculture, to the more traditional metal and wood shop courses.
McKowen hopes that the new facility will be used not only for Anzar students, but will also serve as a location for vocational classes and workshops for the entire community.
“I’d really like it if parents or community members could come here maybe one night a week and learn a new skill,” she said. “I mean, I would love to take a cooking class about sushi or something fun like that.”
While the district moves forward with the vocational education facility, another bond measure is in the works. Munoz says the district hopes to bring a resolution before the board in March, seeking a bond that could fund a new dining hall for Anzar and a new library and media center for San Juan school, among other improvements.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com
