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School-to-work director details donations, CTE partnerships and student opportunities
Summary
Willie Speltz, Rock Ridge Public Schools' director of school-to-work engagement, reported several recent donations and grants supporting Career and Technical Education (CTE) programming, reimbursed grant spending and upcoming student tours and industry partnerships that the district says will expand work-based learning.
Willie Speltz, Rock Ridge Public Schools’ director of school-to-work engagement, told the board the district has secured multiple donations and grants to support CTE programming and related student opportunities. "We received some unexpected monies to hire an Indian Ed working on the language," Speltz said when board members asked about funding for the new Ojibwe language teacher, adding the position is paid from a grant, not the district general fund.
Speltz listed recent gifts and reimbursements: a $4,500 donation plus a $4,500 year-five match from a State Farm donor for the varsity baseball scoreboard; a $7,000 check from the Komatsu Mining Corporation Foundation; a $10,000 award from the local United Way; and St. Louis County grant reimbursements totaling $27,145.08, with an additional roughly $42,000 in reimbursements turned in recently. He said about $30,000 of those reimbursements cover his salary and that the grant reimbursements help reduce district costs.
Speltz described upcoming and recent CTE activities that he said benefit students’ career exposure: manufacturing tours in the Duluth–Superior area with four buses for students; partnerships with community professionals who visit classrooms; free bus trips to a major curling event funded through a Curl Mesabi Foundation grant; and a student journalism report from a recent Iron Trail Motors event. He noted donated equipment for CTE and science programs, including an Eppendorf thermal cycler given to the science department and tool donations for construction labs.
The director thanked local businesses and alumni for in-kind support and volunteer time and highlighted the Wolverine Fund and Rock Ridge Education Fund balances, which he said provide annual interest-based distributions to support student activities. Speltz also reported on projects by CTE students — including ice-fishing-house construction and donated materials — as examples of work-based learning tied to community partnerships.
Board members responded positively and thanked Speltz and the community partners. No formal vote was required for the update; questions about specific consulting fees and other finance details were routed to administration for later clarification.
