The East Baton Rouge Parish School System needs to boost its efforts to help the Baton Rouge area and south Louisiana solve its skilled workforce shortage challenge in the wake of its recent industrial boom, parish schools Superintendent Warren Drake said during his address to the Press Club of Baton Rouge this afternoon.
Drake mentioned several initiatives the school system has already undertaken to address the issue. For one, the system has developed two diploma options: one for students interested in attending traditional four-year colleges, and others wishing to hop onto two-year technical and community colleges. He also said the system is trying to clear a better path for students interested in obtaining their NCCER certifications to pursue a career in the construction industry.
Drake says most schools in the parish now have a business community partner, which was lacking when he started his tenure as superintendent five months ago.
“So are we ready? Well, we’re not as ready as we need to be,” Drake said. “But we’re going to be there. We have to get our kids ready for 21st century learning and career and tech jobs as well as certifications in different areas.”
Drake also touted the importance of the new Lee Magnet High School, which he says is on track to be completed in February and open in August. The revamped Lee High will be opened as a STEM-intensive facility, with four new buildings. Three of the buildings will house academies—one for bioscience, one for engineering, and one for visual arts—with the fourth acting as a main office and gymnasium. It will have space for 1,200 students.
The school will be research intensive and will be “a school like no other,” Drake said.
“They will research the topics they do in-depth with interns, externs with the help of outside organizations,” Drake said. “And then they’ll put that theory into practice. Personally, I think we’re going to have a waiting list.”
Another tool Drake touted: the reopening Istrouma High School, which Drake is optimistic could happen as early as August of next year. The state took over the school in 2012 after it underperformed academically for years, but it was shut down in 2014.
Last week, a parish school board committee accepted a memorandum of understanding with the state for plans to reopen Istrouma. The full board will take up the proposal next week. If approved, it will go to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for a final OK.
Drake said plans for Istrouma, if approved, include renovating the nearly 100-year-old facility. He touted Istrouma as a necessary tool for workforce development, and education in general, in an area that badly needs a strong school.
“It’s an education desert,” Drake said of the area. “We have to provide that (quality education). And why not provide in a school that’s been operating almost 100 years in East Baton Rouge Parish? It makes sense to do that.”
—Robert Stewart
