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Presenter Kathy Rebello outlines freshman exploratory trends, seats and employer outreach
Summary
Kathy Rebello presented freshman exploratory data showing 415 placed first‑choice students out of 528, 565 students accepted against 588 available seats, and identified growing interest in HVAC, Metal Fabrication and construction trades; she urged employer engagement and interschool collaboration to boost certain shop enrollments.
Kathy Rebello gave the committee an annual freshman exploratory presentation on April 28, reviewing how students are placed into vocational shops and which programs are attracting interest.
Rebello said 415 students were placed in their first-choice shop out of 528 students who made choices after exploratory. She told the committee the district accepted 565 students against 588 available seats and noted 39 students were not placed; programs with available seats included Diesel, Computer, Information Technology and Engineering.
Using year-to-year charts, Rebello said HVAC, Metal Fabrication and many construction trades — including carpentry and plumbing — have shown notable increases in first-to-third choice preference, while some computer-based programs and portions of engineering have lower numbers. She emphasized that percentage-based analyses (first through third choice relative to the number who explored a shop) provide a more equitable measure of a program’s pull than raw top-choice counts.
Rebello described steps the district has taken to boost enrollments, including visits to successful programs at other vocational schools (Tri-County and Diamond were cited) and teacher-to-teacher exchanges; she also urged more local employer involvement, suggesting industry speakers and site visits to illustrate career pathways and local demand, particularly in machining and manufacturing trades that currently offer competitive pay.
In a later agenda discussion, the committee noted receipt of a donated airplane offered by Chris Cunningham and said the district must decline for now because it has no storage space; the chair said the donation could be revisited if an aviation program and storage are developed in the future.
Rebello's data and the committee’s questions focused on practical steps — outreach, advisory engagement and employer visits — aimed at aligning exploratory experiences with local labor demand and increasing equitable placement across shops.
