School focuses on ‘future-ready’ students

Wickliffe School District Superintendent Joseph Spiccia is determined to see the students under his watch reach their full potential, not only while in school, but afterward.

This commitment saw him pairing with former Ledgemont Schools Superintendent Julie Ramos, as Wickliffe’s new director of Strategic Innovation. Together, the two initiated a change for the district that has affected faculty, staff, and students from the high school to the elementary grades.

Spiccia and Ramos desire all of their graduating students to be one of four Es: Employed,

Enrolled, Enlisted, or an Entrepreneur. To help facilitate these goals the pair reach out to students while they are still in elementary grades. This early approach is core to their overarching ten year plan, with which they seek to make all Wickliffe School students “futureready” by the time they graduate high school.

Ramos explains the core impetus to the educational changes while sitting across from Spiccia in their Administration Offices.

“Our goal is provide as many opportunities and experiences as we can so that when you make your decision of what you want to do with your life outside of the K-12 space that you’re well informed,” she said.

Spiccia is not shy in his critique on the weight placed on standardized testing.

“While we still have to do (the tests). None of that, in and of itself, really prepares students well for life after school,” he said. “The State Legislators have created this myth that says, ‘if you pass these certain tests then you’re well-prepared for the world outside of school.’ That’s a myth.

“We need to assess the things we value, rather than valuing the things we can simply assess.”

Students were given an equal share of added responsibility and opportunity once Spiccia instituted mandatory events, such as speakers series where students can learn from a variety of employees and employers, site visits, and internship programs with local partnered businesses.

Spiccia and Ramos are quick to highlight each others’ strengths and the balance they’ve struck between administrative logistics and practical implementation.

The two allow this division of labor to fall where it may as long as the end result sees a maximized benefit for the students. This concept was recently on display when the pair were offered two separate site visits on the same day. After dividing the students between them, Spiccia joined students on a tour of the Cleveland Clinic’s robotic division while Ramos chaperoned her half through the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio.

It is through these onlocation site visits that both administrators hope to highlight opportunities and careers that would have otherwise gone overlooked.

“When we talk them to places like the Clinic we don’t want (students) to see just nurses and doctors because they already know about them,” Ramos said. “We want to expose them to other careers that they may not know about or you may not think fits within the organization.”

During the site visit to the Cleveland Clinic students took in a presentation that highlighted a variety of potential positions, including an environmental sustainability division. They also toured the facility’s robotic transportation units.

“There’s about fifty or sixty thousand employees of the Clinic Downtown,” Spiccia said. “Only about 25,000 are clinical staff, so there’s more jobs outside of the clinical staff than any others. I’m sure that was a jaw-dropper for the kids.”

Internships are also an aspect to the district’s “future-ready” model.

Wickliffe was also one of the very first school districts to enter into the Early College Early Career internship program, along with Cleveland Municipal and Lorain. ECEC offers students the opportunity to intern at a number manufacturing businesses where they receive on-the-job training as well as a paycheck for their work.

In addition to the early careers, the early college aspect of the internship allows students to get a jump start on higher education.

“Every single one of the students who have entered the program has taken college courses, about twelve semester hours a year, and not a single student has ever failed at a class,” Spiccia said. “The students know its an opportunity of a lifetime and they take it very seriously.

“This is the only program like this in the state of Ohio,” he added. “There’s nothing else like this. As we began to implement it, there was some push back, like, ‘no, wait a minute. We don’t go on field trips’. We had to explain that this isn’t a field trip, this is a site visit. This is different. It’s an interactive experience for the kids.”

“Relationships matter,” Ramos said. “The teachers know the kids and the families. While there might be some things that they’re not totally on board with, yet, what they are on board with is the relationships they have with the kids and what’s best for them.

“While it may be a bit different than how they think it should be, they’re willing to be open minded about it because it’s good for the kids.”