School district manufacturing pathway poised to fill regional high-skilled employment gap

Vocational training, specifically in manufacturing, is making a strong comeback in the San Bernardino City Unified School District. After years of consultations and strategic planning with Technical Employment Training, Inc. (TET) and other stakeholders, a manufacturing career pathway was completed this school year at Indian Springs High School and its feeder schools – Curtis Middle School, Norton Elementary and Bing Wong Elementary Schools.

The curriculum is unique from other school districts because real world experience and training is being implemented in kindergarten; career pathways are customarily presented at the high school level.

Kindergarten students at Norton and Bing Wong Elementary Schools are introduced to manufacturing concepts, and third graders are designing projects using CAD (computer-assisted design) 3D design software, 3D scanners and laser cutters.

“Students are using the Corel Draw Graphics Suite by the time they are in third grade, imagine what they can accomplish by the time they’re in 12th grade,” said Elizabeth Cochrane-Benoit, Norton Elementary School principal who teamed up with Dr. Bill Clarke, co-founder of TET, to develop the school district’s first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classroom in 2013.

According to Cochrane-Benoit, real-world applications of design and manufacturing are prompting students to realize that math is actually applicable outside of the classroom, and recognize that what they are learning will support the career paths they choose to pursue in the future.

“This model that we have with the manufacturing pathway from kinder to graduation is not being done anywhere else,” Cochrane-Benoit said. “School districts from out of state visit this site to adopt our manufacturing curriculum.”

ISHS students enrolled in the pathway are learning how to read blue prints, use precision tools, and cut materials. Their skills will be validated when they earn the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) credentials upon graduation.

“There is a shortage of highly skilled people in our area which is why this manufacturing pathway is so important,” said Clarke. “We need to equip students with skills and credentials to fill that employment vacuum, and work toward a future where each high school graduate will be employed. That is what will ultimately reshape the economic landscape of San Bernardino.”

State Superintendent of Schools Tim Torlakson recently visited the high-tech lab at ISHS. The half-a-million-dollar Haas Technical Education Center, courtesy of Haas Corporation, is equipped, designed and color-coded with industry input. It is the only high-tech lab in a California high school. Students acquire training on CNC lathes, CNC mills, drills and computer software.

“These students are embracing this course enthusiastically,” said Ron Delmonte, who spent 35 years as an engineer before he became the ISHS lab instructor. “This is the next generation that can change our community, the ones who will make something of themselves and bring it back to the city.”

Chris Petriccione oversees the STEM lab at Curtis Middle School where students are utilizing 3D and mill design software and applying it to a fictional business that they obtain a license for and earn credits to “purchase” materials and machine time.

“This project takes it to the next level where the students are applying their math skills to real world experience in the form of a business,” said Curtis Principal Marlene Bicondova. “This is the ultimate example of what students can be learning at all school sites, and the skills they’re acquiring at this level is what they would be learning in college.”

Vocational training offers students an option other than college, and for those who are college-bound there are numerous support systems within SBCUSD to ensure their success.

“We have to work collectively on multiple fronts to improve this city by bringing together the school district, city and county support services, faith-based and non-profits to provide wrap-around services to individuals,” Clarke said. “How we transform this city is by training people, putting them back to work in high-skilled, in-demand jobs, and graduating high school students who are adept in those skills so they can maintain job security. The eventual benefits this community will reap are immeasurable.”