New Market Skills Center might expand to neighboring counties

By Venice Buhain | The Olympian • Published September 14, 2008

TUMWATER – New Market Skills Center, the career and technical school attended by many South Sound high school students, might expand beyond Thurston County.

The skills center received a $60,000 grant from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to look into providing programs in Lewis, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties. The report is set to be completed by June.

"What we're excited about is that we do some of this already," said Mark Wagar, New Market's director of student services. The school operates a high school medical careers program at Morton General Hospital in Lewis County, with 16 students from the White Pass district, as well as Morton and Mossyrock. The skills center, one of 10 similar centers in the state, also operated a summer manufacturing and robotics program in Aberdeen and Willapa Valley high schools, he said.

The yearlong study "will look into the feasibility of doing more of these programs," Wagar said. The study will be "looking at liability issues ... looking at funding issues. It will look at every aspect of running a remote program."

The Legislature authorized OSPI to look into ensuring that all high-schoolers in the state have access to training for high-demand careers, said John Aultman, OSPI's assistant superintendent for career and college readiness. He previously served as the executive director of New Market.

The studies "are particularly to address high-demand fields for health care and construction for areas currently not being offered for the schools," he said.

Wagar said New Market's study will address how the other districts can send students to a career and technical education program run by New Market without losing money from the state, because it's the small school districts that lack the money or equipment to run their own career and technical programs. The state provides additional money for students who split their time between skills centers such as New Market and their home high schools. The state also pays for before- and after-school for-credit classes at the skills centers.

Aultman said that the state has been expanding the skills-center concept. A skills center is under construction in Skagit County, and others are planned for Pierce, Grant and northeast King counties, he said.

The high school career training enhances the local work force, Aultman said.

The local training will "show the students what the possibilities are and to develop a talent pool for local opportunities," he said. "We start them as high school students, encourage them to go on to post-secondary (education) and let them see that there is an opportunity in their hometown."

Venice Buhain covers education for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5445 or vbuhain@theolympian.com.