L’view teachers learn about businesses

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Local schools are seeking more ways to keep Van Wert County young people in the county, with Lincolnview Local Schools the latest to initiate a program designed to develop career development programs in the district.

On Friday, Lincolnview teachers had a professional development inservice that resulted in their taking tours of four local businesses as a way to see what jobs are available and what skills they might require.

Superintendent Jeff Snyder said the tours were a way for teachers to also “bridge the gap of the skillsets our students need to possess in today’s world to have a job and a career.”

On Friday, Lincolnview teachers had the opportunity to learn more about four local companies, Central Insurance, KAM Manufacturing, National Door & Trim, and Cool Machines — what they do and what they’re looking for in new employees.

The teachers split into three groups of approximately 25 and toured KAM, National Door & Trim, and Cool Machines. The teachers had a pasta lunch provided by the Van Wert Pizza Hut and then all three groups joined together at Central Insurance Companies in the afternoon for a presentation and tour of the regional property and casualty insurance company’s headquarters.

Teachers not only learned what kind of employees the companies were seeking, but also had the opportunity to get insight into the way the businesses operate and the challenges they face in hiring new workers.

Both Lincolnview and Van Wert City Schools have initiated efforts to provide better career development information and educational programs aimed at showing students alternatives to college and preparing them to take jobs available in the community, with Crestview Local Schools also looking at developing career development programs.

Van Wert High School Principal Bob Priest and guidance counselor Kerry Koontz held a meeting with community business leaders to gain input from local businesses on what they want prospective employees to know and be able to do.

Acknowledging that K-12 schools have, in the past, primarily promoted the advantages of going to college to their students, Priest said during the VWCS presentation that, with statistics showing just 30 percent of college students actually graduate – with many of those who do graduate having to take low-paying jobs that do little to help them pay off large student loans – along with the availability of good-paying local jobs, schools need to do a better job of provide career development education.

The Van Wert County Board of Commissioners have also been working on ways to end the “brain drain” that takes the county’s best and brightest students away from Van Wert County, often for life.