South Colonie highlights work-based learning placements, employers praise student contributions

Program staff for the South Colonie Central School District said the district runs a work-based learning program that places students at community job sites Monday through Thursday to match them with suitable roles and develop job-specific skills that could lead to employment. "Basically, our program is a work based learning program. So we focus on going out to different job sites in the community Monday through Thursday. Once we figure out what the student likes, we're trying to place them appropriately and then ultimately try to hone in on specific skills at that job site, to then maybe eventually get them hired," the staff member said.

A student participating in the program described enjoying hands-on tasks and specific job sites. "I like doing, like, the fruits and, like, doing, like, the salsa and stuff like that. I wanna say that Ledgefield is 1 of my favorite places to work out, and Visitor, I I I actually look forward I'm I'm looking forward, like, to being to to to be getting hired by them as, like, a worker there," the student said.

Program staff and a job-site supervisor described skills students develop and tasks they perform. "A lot of this is hands on. And so I think that's a good part of, some of the skills too. When they're able to take what they've learned and be able to use it daily, not just at job sites, but at home as well. The learning how to adapt to certain situations and not feeling overwhelmed by those situations. And even with socially, it's just them building different relationships, seeing them grow, seeing them using their own voice to communicate," a staff member said. A job-site supervisor added, "To be honest, they just make me smile when you see a huge accomplishment. I mean, these guys have done entire floor moves for me, as well as yesterday we cleaned." Another participant described routine tasks as "Restocking," and noted customer-facing work in a domestic department: "He's come out of his shell."

Staff said the district maintains ongoing contact with program alumni. "And when they do leave this program, it's the once in a while, we do see them, check on them and see how they're doing. And when you see the smiles and everything, that lets you know that you did something to help in that growth," a staff member said.

The discussion at the meeting emphasized the program's structure (placements at local job sites), examples of employer tasks (restocking, cleaning, floor moves, food-preparation tasks cited by participants), and the program goal of moving students toward paid employment. Specific details about program size, funding, expansion plans or hiring outcomes were not specified in the transcript.