St. Johns County School Supt. Joseph Joyner, Ed.D. deserves a lot of credit for his tenure at St. Johns County Schools. This career academy article (below) is a synecdoche of why he would make an excellent President of Flagler College.
Unlike St. Johns County's Nease High School, Flagler College has no news program -- none -- on its 10,000 watt radio station, WFCF (88.5 FM, "Radio with a reason.")
Under controversial authoritarian Flagler College Chancellor WILLIAM L. PROCTOR, Ed.D., the meanest man in St. Augustine, a/k/a "MASSA PROCTOR," Flagler College has no faculty tenure, no faculty and staff collective bargaining agreements and little or no respect for academic freedom. Professors are underpaid and can be fired at will.
Some people say that Flagler College Administration has long mistrusted its students' judgment and abilities, whether denying them the right to have students of the opposite sex visit in their dorm rooms, denying them any news programs on Flagler College Radio, or forcing them (and local residents) to fill out cards to ask questions of guest speakers.
Dr. Joyner would be a breath of fresh air as Flagler College President. Flagler needs a Gorbachev after years of iron-fisted Soviet style administration reminiscent of the Politburo, with rightists dominating the school, as exemplified by hacks like Prof. JOE SAVIAK, whose lying louche attacks on Mayor Nancy Shaver made the Flagler College Public Administration program a stench in the nostrils of academia.
Here's The St. Augustine Record article on St. Johns County Schools' career academies:
Posted November 12, 2016 12:02 am - Updated November 12, 2016 04:07 am
By EMELIA HITCHNER emelia.hitchner@staugustine.com
Career Academies gain popularity, offer hands-on learning to students
CHRISTINA.KELSO@STAUGUSTINE.COM Students in the Nease High School Communications Academy television production program produce their daily newscast, Wired, on Thursday, November 10, 2016.
CHRISTINA.KELSO@STAUGUSTINE.COM Students in the Nease High School Communications Academy television production program produce their daily newscast, Wired, on Thursday, November 10, 2016.
The benefits of hands-on learning and project-based classes are gaining momentum in the St. Johns County School District, where 40 percent of the high school population has swapped traditional electives for Career Academy courses.
According to Chris Force, the director of career and technical education, more than 14,000 high school students are now enrolled in various Career Academy programs throughout the district, a 4 percent uptick over last year. She credits growing interest to students who are eager to dabble in professional interests away from the nuances of classroom lectures.
“It’s a more exciting way to learn and because they’re doing things rather than just sitting there, it’s more fun,” Force said. “They’re more committed to their education.”
But career learning isn’t just about having fun, she said. Students can also earn college credits, industry certifications and plug into local businesses through internships and networking.
“And studies have proven career academies improve attendance, graduation rates and long-term relationships, specifically in marriage,” Force said.
There are 19 academies scattered throughout district high schools, nine of which focus on science, technology, engineering and math. Nearly 3,000 high school students are enrolled for the 2016-17 school year in STEM academies, up 30 percent from last year.
Force said Career Academies are unique to each high school, based on need and student interest. The structure of the courses relies on the collaborative efforts of the district, local businesses and CTE directors in other counties to target “hotspot” professions.
“We all meet together to ensure we’re aligned for economic development, workforce development and that we’re offering programs with an industry willing to support it,” Force said. “That’s where we get our business partners from and we can collaborate on internships for students and curriculum and externships for teachers.”
Superintendent Joe Joyner said such programs have come a long way in the last several years, especially as parents shed their mindsets about vocational training and discover the benefits of hands-on learning for their children.
Plus, he added, students thrive academically and emotionally when concentrated courses of study relate to their interests.
“I think it’s been a big contributor to us having a four-year graduation rate over 90 percent because once you focus students in high school and they see that purpose and opportunity, it helps them stay engaged,” Joyner said.
Schools also benefit from the success of students in Career Academies. For every industry certificate a student earns, a portion of that student’s full-time equivalency is funneled from the state into the school to expand its program. More than $1 million has cycled back into the district’s Career Academies since 2011.
“Our students are constantly bombarded by questions about what they’re going to be when they grow up,” said Jamie Combs, the career coordinator at Nease High School. “They see Career Academies as a viable way to explore any career passion they might have.”
Combs graduated from Nease High School before Career Academies were established, but she said her experience with a project-based production elective guided her into a career choice in sophmore year. Her personal experience has made her a firm believer that students need opportunities to plug into their passions as well as determine what doesn’t work for them.
“It’s just as important for our students to find out what they love as much as what they don’t love,” she said. “If they go into an academy and realize it’s not for them, it’s so much better for them to figure out as sophomore in high school than as a sophomore in college.”
Nease has three academies, the most popular being its Communications Academy with an enrollment of more than 500 students.
Its Stellar Academy of Engineering is the second largest and allows students to experiment with several tracts of engineering throughout their high school years. The last program and also Nease’s newest, the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism, appeals to social-minded students interested in Florida’s tourism industry.
“Students are never asking, ‘Well, when am I going to use this?’ because they get to use it immediately and in tangible ways,” Combs said. “That’s why there are so many students flocking to academies — it’s their chance to not only learn about careers they’re passionate about, but really get hands-on in those careers.”
Combs said interested students must enroll in CTE programs in their freshman year because the academies are structured around three years of courses. Students aren’t, however, required to stay in an academy.
Enrollment for Career Academies begins in January, kicking off with a high school showcase hosted at the World Golf Village Convention Center on Jan. 19.
Many programs offer industry certification exams. Those passed are listed on the high school transcript and may count as college credits depending on the college or university the student attends and the major the student pursues.
Middle school students can also enroll in CTE and Digital Tool courses to earn technology-related certificates in social media, programming and computing. There are currently 5,682 middle school students enrolled in CTE classes and more than 7,000 middle through high school students are enrolled in computer courses.
Around 95 percent of course applicants get first choice of program. Parents and students interested in more information regarding Career Academies should contact the coordinator at their middle or high school.
Joyner said ending his nearly two-decade tenure as the district’s superintendent knowing Career Academies and hands-on learning courses are gaining momentum is extremely gratifying.
He’s confident, he said, that it will not only benefit the future job force, but encourage kids to enjoy learning throught the application of real-world experience.
“All kids have some sort of desire or interest in certain areas. It might be engineering, it might be medical, it might be teaching,” he said. “It’s the benefit of applied learning; when a student can’t make that connection between Algebra class and a career, that’s a motivator for learning.”
Sorry, but because he was hand picked and 170 other, more qualified, candidates were passed over, it means that he will be as much the Stalin as the others. The board has ensured as much.
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