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Virginia Beach schools outline expanded career pipeline with new grant, welding lab and police‑training pilot
Summary
Virginia Beach City Public Schools presented a K‑12 workforce development plan that includes a $111,000 state Grow Your Own grant to bolster the teacher pipeline, a $2 million welding laboratory at Renaissance Academy and a spring 2027 law‑enforcement training pilot for seniors.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools on Thursday detailed plans to expand career and technical education across its 85 schools, telling the board a combination of grants, new facilities and regional partnerships aims to connect students to local workforce opportunities.
Dr. Sarah Lockett, director of the division’s Office of Technical and Career Education, said the work is anchored to the Compass to 2030 strategy and spans elementary awareness, middle‑school exploration and high‑school career preparation. "This design for the student experience got its start in our discussions of academic and career planning," she said.
The division reported it received $111,000 through the Virginia Department of Education’s Grow Your Own Competitive Grant to support teacher preparation, pre‑apprenticeship opportunities and dual‑enrollment coursework. "We received $111,000 through this initiative," Lockett said, and the funds will be used for transportation support for internships, dual‑enrollment costs and stipends for teachers supervising internships.
Lockett described a $2 million investment to build a third welding laboratory and classroom at Renaissance Academy, scheduled for completion in July 2026. The site will host a one‑credit introductory welding course beginning August 2026; Lockett said the model allows about 40 students per semester during the day and will also support evening adult training and credentialing.
The division also announced a pilot program with the Virginia Beach Police Department and the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office that will allow a cohort of up to 20 seniors from the Public Safety II class to spend part of the spring 2027 semester at the local police academy, combining hands‑on instruction from law enforcement professionals with dual‑enrollment coursework and eligibility for paid work‑based learning.
On outcomes, the division reported that students have earned 16,649 industry credentials so far in the 2025‑26 school year, an increase of about 2,000 from the prior year, and that credential pass rates rose from 83.3% to 85.1%. Lockett said more than 700 work‑based learning experiences have been documented this year, representing roughly 86,000 student hours and an estimated $1.3 million economic impact in the community.
Board members asked several questions about middle‑school access to CTE electives and about regional coordination. Vice Chair Williams confirmed the division offers business, technology and family and consumer science electives across all middle schools, and staff described ongoing planning with neighboring divisions — including Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Norfolk — about a regional CTE center with phased programming beginning as early as fall 2027.
A board member noted the division’s close coordination with local employers as a response to high demand: when the division previously had capacity for only 20 welding students, it received roughly 150 applications for those spots; the new introductory course and expanded lab aim to reach many of the students who could not be served previously.
The board did not take formal action during the presentation. Lockett said the division will continue to refine credential strategy and program offerings for 2026‑27.
