New charter high school promises to bring trades into classroom

Students who graduate from a high school that's expected to open at the Camarillo Airport next year may have a career edge over other students, say backers of the Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School (ACE), which the Oxnard Union High School District agreed to charter last month.

The ACE charter will offer traditional high school classes, and students will have to meet the same requirements as other students for graduation. But the subjects of their essays, handson projects and other schoolwork will center on the trades. The school is a result of trade professionals and education officials working together.

Graduates should be able "to hit the ground running" in choosing a career path, and the hope is they will enter either an apprenticeship or go to college with marketable skills to support themselves, said Martha Mutz, the high school district's assistant superintendent of educational services.

Some 450 students from throughout the county are expected to enroll in the charter high school, Mutz said.

Roger Rice, associate superintendent of student programs at the Ventura County Office of Education, said the new charter school might motivate the students that traditional high schools can't reach.

"We need to offer a wide variety of programs that are compelling for them," Rice said. "I think we can reduce the dropout rate."

The charter high school will also benefit the community by producing workers who are skilled enough to enter a vocation or apprenticeship in the trades, Mutz said.

Classroom subjects are likely to take on greater relevance for ACE students as they apply what they learn to hands-on projects, said Gene Hansmeier, Ventura County training director for the electrical apprenticeship program.

In 2003, Hansmeier and union officials for the electricians and sheet metal workers approached the Ventura County Office of Education about starting a trade-focused high school after they visited Stanley E. Foster Construction Technology Academy at Kearny High in San Diego.

"I believe in it," Hansmeier said.

He said he saw excited ninthgraders designing a car rim on a computer program. Before the students could get the rim to work properly, they had to revise their math calculations a couple of times. The students realized the relevance of trigonometry, algebra and other math functions while working on a project that appealed to them; they also used analytical skills, Hansmeier said

Hansmeier said Kearny school officials told him their program has spurred some students who'd been at risk of dropping out to finish high school.

Why has it taken six years to bring a trade-focused high school to Ventura County?

Peggy Velarde, director of the county office of education's Regional Occupation Program, said it takes time to secure funding, find building space and determine that the charter school will not have a negative effect on other schools in the county. The ROP teaches high school students and members of the community vocational job skills but not academics.

The county office of education donated the building for ACE, which is across the street from Frontier High School in the Camarillo Airport. The building became vacant last year.

"It's quite a process starting a whole new school," Velarde said "Things were just starting to fall into place."

Plans are for the charter school and its students to have a close partnership with trade professionals. Electricians, drywall installers, carpenters and the like will serve as mentors to the school's 11th- and 12th-graders, said Hansmeier, one of two trade representatives who will be on the school's board of directors.

ACE won't have sports teams or other extracurricular activities. The school is expected to have a limited number of student clubs.

Rice said the next critical steps are to apply for a $600,000 state grant and hire a principal, who will then begin to plan the curricula, hire teachers, work on renovating the building and other matters essential to having the school ready for ninth and 10th grades in the fall of 2010.

ACE is expected to add grades 11 and 12 in successive years.

Mutz recommends students begin the school in the ninth grade to get the most out of the program.