SEQUIM – Sequim School District officials are trying to raise a million dollars locally to leverage 15 million dollars in state money for a new Career Technical Education center.
Sequim Schools superintendent Regan Nickels says last summer, the district embarked on a study to find out what the community needed and supported for programs that train students to get trades and technical jobs right out of high school.
“We recognize that there’s a pathway directly from schools to careers and we really want to make the investment that we have the opportunities available. So, students are leaving Sequim High School and moving right into a career that has a living wage and helps our businesses out there who have a workforce that have open positions available right now,” said Nickels.
The state legislature is offering grants that can do toward building these types of facilities. Nickels says the Sequim District’s size is an advantage.
“Actually, Sequim has been recognized to be a recipient for this money is because of our size? It’s recognized that larger school districts are qualified for CTE skills center grants that we are not small. Rural size schools are receiving money to advance CTE programming that we are not qualified due to our size. So our size actually assists us here.”
Sequim Schools CTE director Ned Floeter says the number of students seeking CTE classes and/or careers is poised for growth in Sequim after reviewing the needs.
“So, we serve in the neighborhood of about 1,200 students with a CTE program. Each student is going to go to at least one of those programs. Now students that opted to make that their pathway, and as you boil those numbers down, we have approximately 250 to 260 students that opted for that as a career path, where they see themselves leaving high school and entering into a trade,” said Floeter.
District officials envision a 20-thousand square foot building built on district-owned property near the high school. It would feature three pods for industrial, light industrial and technical program along with classroom space and a commercial grade kitchen to train culinary arts.
The district is seeking support from various community groups, including the city of Sequim as well as individual donations to come up with the one-million-dollar match. The city of Sequim will have a public forum on the CTE issue and possible local funding on January 23rd.