District presents CTE update; IoT students report average $1,240 earnings this year

Chelsea Wilson, the Boise Independent District’s K–12 career technical education program advocate, told the board the district has restructured CTE leadership and is pursuing expanded pathways and outreach to increase student participation.

Wilson said the new leadership model includes an area director for CTE and roles to coordinate programming and compliance across schools. “This new leadership model was an outcome of a CTE strategic planning focus group,” she said, and the team—together eight months—now supports 65 programs with 87 teachers districtwide.

Wilson front-loaded district metrics in the presentation: DTech (the district’s career-technical center) participation is at an all-time high; districtwide students earned 2,342 industry certifications last year; and 77% of graduates took at least one CTE course. “Students are engaged, driven, and have earned, on average, $1,240 each since the beginning of the school year,” Wilson said when describing the Individualized Occupational Training (IoT) program for juniors and seniors who work or volunteer and meet weekly with staff for professional-skill coaching.

Why it matters: Wilson and trustees tied the update to workforce alignment and postsecondary outcomes. The district has been cross-referencing potential pathways with the Idaho Workforce Development Council’s list of in-demand careers and surveying students and families to prioritize which pathways to add next. Wilson described early student feedback from incoming 10th–12th graders as an important driver of decisions.

Details and evidence: Wilson outlined offerings at the junior-high and high-school levels (engineering technology, teen living, media technology, health professions, trades and industry, business and marketing, and individualized occupational training) and noted high-school pathways that lead directly into postsecondary study or industry jobs. She said some high-school programs report 43–50% participation while Boise Online School reported 9% and STEP reported 19% participation. Demographic breakdowns Wilson cited: among CTE participants this year, 6% are multilingual learners, 8% have 504 plans and 11% have individualized education plans (IEPs); she compared these to district-wide seventh–twelfth rates.

Wilson highlighted career-connected learning and cost savings: networking and cybersecurity students work on a tech squad that supports district help-desk needs, and she said those students assembled computers that saved an estimated $30,000 from the district IT budget this year. She also listed industry certifications now available through DTech (OSHA-10, CNA and American Welding Society among others) and potential additions under review (phlebotomy, EKG, physical-therapy aide and fiber-optics).

Trustees’ questions and staff responses: Trustee Gregory asked about program capacity; Wilson said the district is not at capacity in all programs but is overcapacity in others and is evaluating where to expand or consolidate. Trustee Hassler asked whether increased offerings had produced higher enrollment; Wilson clarified the presentation’s lines, noting the red line shows students who took at least one CTE course and affirmed the district’s participation is rebounding. To recruit and inform students and families, Wilson described outreach plans including open houses at DTech and comprehensive high schools, a ninth-grade “Rigs and Gigs” tour, tenth-grade lab tours for health pathways, a reinstated sixth-grade career-exploration visit, consistent district marketing materials and translation of flyers into five languages.

Next steps: Wilson said staff will continue investigating new pathways guided by student and industry feedback; the presentation concluded with trustees thanking the team and standing for additional questions. No formal motions or votes were taken on tonight’s CTE items.