Schools, Colleges & Universities Caucus, Jan. 29, 2018

In attendance were representatives of:

The University of Toledo

Monroe County Community College

WSOS Community Action

Ottawa Hills School District

Rossford School District

Penta Career Center

Bowling Green State University

Sylvania Schools

Toledo Public Schools

Moderator: Ann Theis of Owens Community College.
TMACOG staff: Kari Gerwin (facilitator) and Mary Pat McCarthy (notes).

Election to the Board of Trustees:

K-12 – Ron Matter

K-12 Alternate – Bob Vasquez

Colleges and Universities -Paul Knollman

Colleges and Universities Alternate – Meghan Schmidbauer

Discussion of College Credit Plus

This program allows students as young as 7^th grade to take college-level courses at no charge to them. It’s very popular with parents. Instructors warn that student who get poor grades will have permanently impacted their college GPA. There are changes coming for the program:

1) Changes to the number and type of classes that students are permitted to take.

2) If students have a GPA of 2.0 they will be on academic probation. If they do poorly next term, they will be dropped from the program. The aim is to save students for ruining their GPA

3) New hoops for students to enter the program include being declared “college ready” through testing or other means.

Another college alternative is TAG classes

Students can take many TAG (transfer assurance guarantee) high school class. When they enter college, that class now qualifies for college credit. This program differs from the CCPlus program in that it doesn’t cost the high school or the college any money.  TAG classes are mostly general education. They could hinder students who need to prove higher level accomplishments. CCPlus is pushed much harder by parents.

Another college credit alternative is Prior Learning

Work experience or industry credential may qualify students for college credit. It’s an online “portal.”

Larger Discussion on need for Skilled Trades

Points from the group:

·         Parents need to perceive of skilled trades as a good choice for many kids that leads to good income and benefits.

·         At community college, many who start in trades don’t finish with a degree because they get a job.

·         Union halls need to allocate jobs fairly and reduce nepotism.

·         Municipal governments cannot find employees to man water treatment plants.

·         The perception is that skilled trades are dirty and dangerous which is not as true as it used to be

·         Only 25% of jobs require a 4-year degree but parents and kids are going into debt when it’s not necessary for a satisfying career.

Consensus among the group is that marketing efforts need to be put together to sell parents on skilled trades as smart choices. There was a request that TMACOG facilitate some sort of discussion among educators, industry, manufacturing, Tiffany Densic of Ottawa Hills School District and Kerrie Carte of WSOS and Ron Matter of Penta agreed to be part of further discussion.

TMACOG staff noted that there is no funding stream that would pay for a marketing campaign by TMACOG but perhaps TMACOG could put partners together. JobsOhio, Regional Growth Partnership, and Chambers of Commerce in the region were cited as likely partners as were unions, IBEW, etc.

It was noted that universities are usually a place that creates jobs but BGSU is exporting 82% of its graduates out of the state of Ohio.

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments | www.tmacog.org