Schools work to meet area employers’ skilled labor needs

Rogers Public Schools recently completed a $5 million project to expand its Career Center as the school district works to meet employer demand for skilled labor. Career and technical education (CTE) programs among the four largest school districts in Northwest Arkansas are experiencing varying growth levels.

The 13,700-square-foot expanded center at Rogers Heritage High School provides new spaces for its medical professions, medium- and heavy-duty truck and construction trades programs. Crossland Construction was the builder. Hight Jackson Associates of Rogers was the architect.

“These spaces will allow students to gain hands-on, real-world experiences to help them with whatever they choose to do after high school, whether that be to go straight into the workforce or to further their education,” said Tiauna Young, career and technical education director for Rogers Public Schools. “We are confident that the work happening within these walls will prepare the next generation of professionals to not only meet but exceed the demands that are asked for by our industry partners.”

Rob Phillips, president of the Rogers Board of Education, said the board collaborated with Rogers Lowell Chamber and business leaders to determine the skills students need for careers in Northwest Arkansas. The necessary skills became the basis for the expansion.

“What we’re creating here today is a legacy,” said Superintendent Jeff Perry, adding that the expanded center will provide students with “an opportunity. There’ll be an experience given that will prepare them for the rest of their life … We provide those opportunities so that students ahead of us that we don’t know the names of yet that may be in kindergarten and have no idea what they want to do … One day, they’ll come in here and work on the diesels … They’ll go down to our medical arts profession, or they’ll start a career in construction.”

The center is part of Rogers Public Schools’ Launch Career Center, which offers 27 career and technical education programs or pathways and has about 60 teachers who teach CTE courses. Students can receive additional training at other schools, such as Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale or NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.

NEW COURSES, CLINIC
The expanded center includes a medical program that provides certified nurse assistant (CNA) training, and Young said the plan is to offer phlebotomy training, too. She noted that students can receive certifications while in school and “go straight to the workforce.”

Student capacity varies based on what’s allowed per program. For example, CNA classes are limited because only 12 students at a time are allowed for clinicals. Safety restrictions limit construction classes to 24 students. She added that the CNA program capacity might be expanded if clinicals could be completed in various locations.

“This is our first year with this, so to start with, we’ve got 12 kids in CNA,” Young said. “We do have a waitlist.”

CNA classes are completed each semester, with a new group of students starting in January.

As part of the expansion, a primary care medical clinic is expected to open next year at the north end of the expanded building. Springdale-based Northwest Health will operate the clinic, which will be open to the public.

“It became instant to us with our passion to want to take care of this community every single day that these are the type of partnerships that we want to continue throughout our region,” said Rick Naegler, market CEO of Northwest Health. “We’re here to support this community. We’re here to support this school. And we’re here to continue to support the educational efforts to drive people into the health care field with passion and commitment to what we do.”

CAREER PATHWAYS
Melinda Bunyard, director of career and technical education for Bentonville Schools, attributed its CTE program growth in part to employer demand for skilled workers.

“It’s a wonderful thing that they would be able to earn a living wage with a high school diploma along with the CTE certifications that they earned through our CTE programs,” Bunyard said. “Then, they can go on to continue in a career pathway or work while they’re in college. It just opens up so many options for them.”

Bunyard cited the LEARNS Act as another growth driver and noted that Gov. Sarah Sanders has spotlighted the value of CTE and the partnership between schools and employers. The governor asked the state CTE department to help the school district align its training programs with the high-wage, high-demand jobs students could enter after graduation.

According to the state, high-wage, high-demand jobs comprise 18 CTE career pathways. They include occupations with a 10-year projected demand of at least 5,548 openings and a median annual wage of at least $39,728.

Rodney Ellis, workforce director for Springdale Public Schools, attributed its CTE growth to the school district’s alignment of career pathways to the high-wage, high-demand jobs. The school district offers 12 of the 18 high-wage, high-demand pathways and a total of 23 CTE pathways, including agriculture, computer programming and construction.

Asked about program growth drivers, Ellis said the school district started to use the You Science Interest & Aptitude software last school year. The software provides students with career recommendations based on their interests and aptitude results.

Ellis said that to accommodate newer programs, the school district might add space for construction technologies, commercial driver’s license, and heavy equipment programs. It’s also looking into expanding programs for medical students. It has 135 CTE teachers, serving more than 14,000 students.

ADDITIONAL LOCATION
Bentonville Schools expanded its CTE program footprint to five locations to accommodate growth. This year, its Ignite Professional Studies program opened an additional building that includes its global business, law, medical and pre-educator programs.

Bunyard said the Ignite program has grown to almost 600 students and has seen incremental growth in recent years. Ignite is a program for which students apply and are interviewed for acceptance.

“Think of this as their career preparation that happens at the end of their high school journey,” said Jessica Imel, principal of Ignite Professional Studies. “One of the things that separates our career education and the Ignite program is that there’s professional skills development that complements all these technical skills.”

Ignite comprises 10 career strands, including new focus areas like cybersecurity, integrative health and entrepreneurship. This year, the aviation program students will build a kit airplane, introducing them to aviation mechanics.

Bentonville Schools has 18 CTE pathways and about 100 teachers who teach CTE classes. Students who complete a pathway will receive an industry-recognized certification. Pathways comprise three courses. Bunyard said she’s started planning for the 2025-26 school year, working to adjust pathways and certifications to ensure they remain relevant to employers. Finance and first responder pathways are in the works.

OFF-SITE EXPANSION
Lisa Hotsenpiller, director of career and technical education at Fayetteville Public Schools, said its CTE program has grown “slowly but steadily” since COVID.

Recently, it’s grown off school property. She said the Fayetteville Fire Department came to the school district to help address a firefighter shortage. This year, it launched a firefighting program, with training completed at Fayetteville Fire Department.

Also, the school district partnered with Washington Regional Medical System to establish a patient care associate/patient care tech program. The students complete program clinicals at Washington Regional.

“We’ve expanded our programs,” Hotsenpiller said. “We’ve not had to add facilities, but we’ve had to be creative in how we’ve gotten students into these programs and trained properly.”

Asked about plans to expand its footprint, she expects the health sciences will be the first because of the great interest in them and medical professions. The school district offers 19 CTE pathways, such as agriculture, health professions and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and has 53 CTE teachers.