New bond means big changes to CTE Programs for Anchor Bay Schools

Anchor Bay School district voters passed a $1.69 Million No Tax Increase Bond on election day this past November. This Bond will bring about some great changes for the district, but one of the biggest changes will be seen in the Career and Technical Education Department.

According to Mr. Jankowski, Superintendent, the bond “will improve student safety and security, enhance the K-12 educational program, address aging infrastructures, correct geographical concerns, increase building efficiency, and protect the community’s investment in its schools.” But it will also create a Career Pathway Program at the high school that allows for major changes and growth there but also starts setting its CTE roots as early as elementary school.

These Career Pathways will help students develop connections between classroom experience and future educational or career goals. Introduction to Career Pathways will start at the middle school level and then continue through the high school level. Anchor Bay School District will offer the following Career Pathways:

• Business Management

• Computer Programming

• Marketing

• Microsoft Office

• Cyber Security

The bond means there will be both renovations at the high school as well as new construction to help support and manifest these changes and will see the addition of three new CTE programs at the high school; Robotics, Welding and Law / Mock Courtroom.

New Construction Projects at the high school CTE will include building several new areas, including a new Culinary Arts room, and relocating the schools Shoreliner restaurant from its current location at AB’s Middle School North to the new area at the high school. Plans also include moving the Horticulture and Auto Lab from North to the high school. Some of the other new construction that will be seen is the addition of a Robotics lab.

The bond will allow for current classrooms to be renovated into a welding lab, a graphics lab, a broadcast studio, law classrooms and mock courtroom, JROTC classroom, and business, marketing, and technology labs.

These changes will allow the already expansive high school to now house all 16 Career and Technical Education programs in one location.

By enhancing educational programming throughout the K-12 instructional program, this will allow the school district to place a stronger focus on Career Preparation and STEM programming by developing meaningful connections between classroom experiences for students and their future academic and career goals. Planning is underway for Exploratory Career and Technical Education Classes that will be open to 7th and 8th grade students. They will be given the opportunities for Career Guest Speakers, Field Trips, Job Shadowing as well as partner with various high school programs.

As part of preparation for the bond, AB’s strategic planning process created a Portrait of an Anchor Bay Graduate. A graduate profile is a document that a school district develops with input from local stakeholders to specify the cognitive, personal, and interpersonal competencies that students should possess when they graduate from high school. In the end, these are the four areas that we will focus and build our programs and curriculum around. Students will focus on 4 areas; Educate, Motivate, Collaborate and Cultivate. Students will grow in areas like financial literacy, critical thinking skills, accountability, perseverance as well as taking a leadership role and having real world experiences. AB hopes to also see student growth in community involvement and college readiness.

The district plans to hit the ground running with construction and other district changes to be seen as early as 2023. For more information on the bond and all the wonderful changes it will bring about at Anchor Bay Schools please visit the school’s website.