Bill Lee calls for more vocational training in schools
The key to economic growth across Memphis is in training a workforce that can do the jobs needed by companies already here and others considering moving to the area, Gov.-elect Bill Lee said.
One way to do that, Lee said, is to begin introducing job skills training to students aged as young as middle school.
“I do think that there is a shortage of connection between (workforce development) programs and K-12,” Lee said Thursday after the Greater Memphis Chamber’s annual meeting at The Peabody. “I want to engage the private sector, for example, in partnerships with public schools so that we have opportunities for work-based learning and apprenticeships and for the children in the seventh and eighth grade to begin to have conversations around the pathways for their success that include a particular skill.”
Lee said this kind of approach can help build better futures for Tennessee students who don’t have plans to attend college. He also cited a lack of skilled trade workers across the state and said he supports creating vocational programs in high schools.
“When we do that, we particularly give pathways of success for those four out of 10 kids in our public school system who aren’t going to college currently today,” Lee said. “We do very little to prepare them for success, and they need a pathway to success. Vocational, technical education helps provide that.”
Preparing students for the workforce after graduation
Ernest Strickland, senior vice president for the Greater Memphis Chamber, said the chamber has already begun to work with companies to create programs for high school students.
In October, a group of 500 Shelby County 11th and 12th graders toured Memphis-area manufacturing companies during the chamber’s annual manufacturing day. One student who toured Atlantic Track was later hired for a position at the company, Strickland said.
Then in November, representatives from 17 companies in a range of industries including logistics, medical device manufacturing and health sciences visited seven school to speak with 1,500 students about apprenticeship programs.
“When you have low unemployment, companies become very progressive when looking to attract talent to their front doors,” Strickland said, adding that these kinds of initiatives help keep students informed about what opportunities are available and keep talented workers and the companies who need to hire them in Memphis.
The chamber thinks the governor’s office can play a role in creating and expanding programs like the one Lee wants.
“What we want to see is dollars that flow from the state into our local workforce investment network,” Strickland said.
That money would help different agencies training workers collaborate and be more efficient translating into more people in well-paying jobs.
Desiree Stennett can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal. com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.