Vo-tech students aren't thrilled about being transferred

Howland is considering offering more vocational programs itself in the future.
By STEPHEN SIFF
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- Cosmetology students from Howland don't pretty up their feelings about their school board's decision to send them at least 45 minutes north to Ashtabula County.
"They didn't want to spend the money to give us a better education," said junior Rachel Fisk, who plans to attend a cosmetology program near her mother's home in Elyria next year rather than face the commute to Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School.
"They didn't do it for our convenience, they did it for themselves," she said.
Of the five school districts which used the Gordon D. James Career Center in Lordstown for vocational education, Howland is alone in its decision to send its vocational students to Ashtabula.
Those from Niles, Weathersfield and McDonald will attend the Trumbull County Technical Center, in Champion, this fall. Lordstown officials have not announced its plans.
The James center is closing after 25 years.
Cost one reason: Cost was one factor in Howland's decision not to send children to the local joint vocational school, said superintendent John Rubesich.
Howland has 51 students in two-year vocational programs at the James center.
Sending Howland students to the Trumbull County Technical and Career Center would cost township residents about $1.4 million annually through an unvoted property tax, while the Ashtabula school charges from $8,000 to $10,000 per student, he said.
However, in a discussion with a half-dozen cosmetology and vocational readiness students, only one said she intends to make the daily trip to the Ashtabula vocational school in Jefferson Township.
Junior Ashley Mackey said her mother opposes the idea. "She says it's too far."
Her friends agree.
"What happens if someone gets sick at school and their parents are at work," said Connie Jordan. "They can't drive 55 minutes to get you out."
With a 5-month-old baby at home, Margo Hillier says the commute would be impossible for her.
"If something happens, I can't get home," she said. "I don't have time to drive 55 minutes to get home."
Margo, a junior, said she needs to know she can get home on time to take over care of her baby from her mother, who works nights.
"She is a waitress," Margo said. "She can't be late."
Margo said she hopes to take advantage of Weathersfield School District's open enrollment policy next year and attend TCTC.
Driving vs. busing: Howland school officials have not determined if students will be allowed to drive themselves to the Ashtabula school, or if they will be required to take a bus from Howland High School. Students are allowed to drive to and from the James center.
Rubesich said the board will "strongly suggest" that all parents make their students take the bus. Ashtabula gets more snow, which could make driving difficult in the winter, he said.
Howland does not have the space to provide many programs itself, but Rubesich said it is something the district would like to do in the future.
It offers four vocationally-oriented programs at the high school, but the state requires public school districts to have at least 12.
The students are upset at the prospect of having to make new friends and settle into a new environment. That feeling is universal among students now at Gordon D. James, said Robert Bonish, director of student services.
"It takes them one or two nine-week periods just for them to assimilate, just for them to get used to being together," he said. "I can tell this is going to be tough."
Teens in different programs will face different challenges. Many cosmetology students, who spend the whole day at Gordon D. James, say they left Howland because they were unhappy there. Several said they have no intention of going back.
"I came from an inner-city school and at Howland you feel like you are lower class, like you are trash," Rachel said. "And they treat you like that."
Students in most James center programs spend half the day there, then return to Howland High School in the afternoon for their academic classes.
The Ashtabula Joint Vocational School only offers all-day programs. To purse vocational training there, Howland students must sever all classroom ties.
Activities: Students who go to Ashtabula will still be able to participate in extracurricular activities at Howland High School, Rubesich said, but few vo-ed students take advantage of Howland extracurriculars now.
Those hit hardest by the closure of Gordon D. James will be the 24 students in the vocational readiness program, Bonish said.
Vocational readiness was started this year for students who fell far behind in academic class credits in their first year of high school. Most simply refused to go to school. Ten of them are from Howland, he said.
Neither regular high school academic programs or regular vocational school has a mechanism for these students to get all the credits they need without extending high school for another year, he said.
"I'm not going to go a whole other year just to graduate," said Gina Wilson, a vocational readiness student who skipped most of her freshman year at Howland High. "It's not that I don't want to graduate. I've made a lot of mistakes, but I want to graduate."
The only other option open to her may be a "life skills" program diploma, which is not considered on par with a regular high school degree.
"That would be the easy way out," she said.
siff@vindy.com
sinkovich@vindy.com