With a weak economy, officials at the school have said the new campus should provide more opportunities for job training for adults, and a central location for high school students to study in the teaching professions academy and study biomedical sciences.
However, Shane Haggerty, marketing and communications coordinator for Ohio Hi-Point, said there have been a few other changes that may affect students this year as well.
The high school administration has been restructured, allowing two new directors to place more focus on academic achievement, he said. Joel Staudter will serve as associate director of academics while Shelly Swaney will serve as associate director of career technical education, Haggerty said.
Previously, the school provided one director who led a series of instructional supervisors. With a dean taking care of discipline and attendance issues, Haggerty said the idea is to free up the school’s leaders to have more time to focus on curriculum and academics.
“Basically, the goal is to better support all the teachers and improve the teaching and the learning of students,” he said.
In the career technical programs, Haggerty said students may also find an additional emphasis placed on alternative energy.
Haggerty said many new job opportunities are expected to open up in the coming years because of alternative energy, and the school is trying to prepare its students for those opportunities.
He said students in programs such construction, for example, might work on a project to build an energy efficient greenhouse.
“They’ll be studying alternative energy and learning about green careers,” Haggerty said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0355 or msanctis@coxohio.com.
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