Schools invest in high-tech upgrades to vocational ed

CLEVELAND (AP) — Schools are investing in high-tech upgrades to vocational education programs to keep up with the demands of a changing work environment.

The Lorain County Joint Vocational School in Oberlin is opening a high-tech welding lab today.

Mentor High School has created a new lab by transforming the school’s old machine shop into a digital photography room.

Each school invested more than $1 million in what’s called career technical education, the new phrase for what many remember as vocational education.

Kathy Shibley, director of career tech at the Ohio Department of Education, says a large amount of the future work force will consist of people with two-year technical degrees.

About one in four high school students are in work force development programs, which make up the bulk of career tech offerings.

Information technology and agricultural and environmental systems are the two most popular fields.

About 12 percent of work force development students are in what’s known as “college tech prep.” The goal is to boost that to 100 percent in the next five years.

Doing that means tougher high school classes and smoothing the path to two-year colleges, Shibley said.

The Mentor School District sold two closed elementary school buildings to raise $1.2 million for its modernization.

Lorain County JVS saved up $1.7 million to pay for its new welding lab and other renovations. The Lorain lab graduates 16 to 18 students a year.