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Mifflin County SD reports growth in co-op placements, employer partnerships
Summary
School district CTE leaders told the board the co-op program has 31 students placed with 20 current employers and four employers pending; new internships and life-skills partnerships with the high school were also reported.
Mifflin County SD leaders reported Wednesday that the district’s career-and-technical education co-op program has expanded this fall, with 31 students currently placed and partnerships with roughly 20 employers and four additional employers pending.
The update matters because the placements connect students to paid and unpaid workplace learning that counts toward credentials and postsecondary opportunities. District staff said the growth follows outreach to local businesses and recent program changes intended to improve placement rates.
Career-and-technical director (identified in the meeting as the presenter) said the district has 31 students in co-op placements as of Oct. 9 and that the program works with 20 different employers. “We are in line for 4 new ones, which aren't listed there yet because they're not quite set up,” the presenter said, naming Paul Baker, 2 A Electric, Brenner Credit Services and Lake Collision Repair as prospective partners.
The report enumerated specific placements and program connections: an electrical installation student waiting for placement; a welding placement being pursued with Mestler’s Forest Products; collision-repair placements at Car Credit Collision Center and Lake Collision Repair; and a contractor, Jeremy Lewis, seeking a construction-trades student. The presenter said the program had 35 early-childhood-education students with unpaid internships at Summit Pre K to help them obtain the Child Development Associate credential, which requires 480 hours of supervised experience.
Staff also described new hands-on opportunities tied to the district’s life-skills and health-professions programs. Rachel Davis, identified in the meeting as the transition coordinator and life-skills teacher at the high school, has arranged for life-skills students to practice appointment-making and phone etiquette with cosmetology and barbering students; district staff said those students will be transported by the district and the activity is funded through the high school’s coffee club. In health professions, staff said third-year students will practice taking weight, pulse oximetry and temperature readings with life-skills students.
Program leaders credited individual staff for coordinating placements and employer outreach and noted the program finished last year with 43 placements. The board did not take formal action on the report; it was presented for information.
District staff also reminded board members of upcoming field trips and invited board members to observe school drills scheduled for Oct. 16–17.
