Representatives from Somerset Academy Inc. faced a mostly friendly room Monday night during its community presentation in the Council Chambers. Parents, students and faculty attended, as did numerous members of various trade organizations, all to learn more about a proposed career-technical academy proposed within Port St. Lucie’s jobs corridor.
Mayor Gregory Oravec pointed to the city’s strategic plan, which helps chart the course for community improvement, as a reason why the council was pursuing a charter school to provide a one-stop shop for trade education.
“No, we’re not the School Board,” the mayor said. But, he added, the city does recognize opportunities and tries to work with partners as best it can.
Somerset Academy Inc. was the lone respondent last month to present a plan for a grade 6-12 charter school focusing on skilled trades in construction, medical and hospitality.
The school district provides career-tech academies at more than two dozen schools throughout the county, but Port St. Lucie leaders believe having one school with all the trades under one roof would be best – a place for “like-minded people” wanting to be trained.
Somerset will need to get St. Lucie Public Schools’ blessing – or the state’s, if the district denies – before moving forward on the proposed charter school.
“It’s no cakewalk,” Oravec said of the process.
Somerset Academy already operates two charters in St. Lucie – Somerset College Preparatory Academy on NW California Boulevard, and Somerset Academy St. Lucie on SW Yamada Drive.
The principal of both schools, Erika Rains, said the Somerset Career Academy of Port St. Lucie would be a “school-to-workforce solution.” She envisions students graduating with not just their high school diploma but also with the industry certifications they need in order to get jobs.
Both Rains and Oravec pointed to the longtime push of sending students to college as one of the reason such a career-tech school is needed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has determined that at least 37 percent of college students don’t complete a four-year degree program.
“You have to wonder why,” Rains said, suggesting that students were pushed in a direction they didn’t want to go.
But sending students off to college has also led to a shortage of skilled trade labor. There are more job openings than there are skilled workers, according to Oravec.
Already, Somerset Academy Inc. operates a career-tech academy in the City of Hialeah that is similar to the school the city wants to establish.
COHEA – the City of Hialeah Educational Academy – has been up and running for 10 years and boasts a graduation rate between 96 percent and 97 percent. When it first opened, the county’s graduation rate was 63 percent.
The school focuses on trades and skills that the City of Hialeah identified was needed in its community. It has various academies, including police, fire rescue, emergency medical, law and even early childhood.
In Port St. Lucie, Rains and other Somerset representatives expect its charter to provide training and certification in architecture and construction immediately. Such fields could include air-conditioning, refrigeration and heating technology, carpentry, electricity and plumbing.
Later, based on community need and desire, Somerset could offer training in Health Sciences, including a partnership with Allied Health, dental aide and home health aide.
Representatives also suspect that the charter would eventually offer a culinary career path as well as cosmetology, both of which would help attract more students to the school.
Manufacturing, as well as transportation and early childhood education, could also be added to the program as demand dictates.
Rains told the audience that the charter company hopes to have the school ready for the 2020-21 school year – “best case scenario.” Worst case, a year later.
To start, the school would open with 300 students in grades 6 and 7. During that time, the students will take the required courses to meet Florida education standards as well as mini-sessions in each of the trade areas to help them determine what career path they might want to pursue.
The second year will see the addition of grades 8 and 9 with an additional 425 students. By eighth grade, students will be able to select their career path. Rains said students will retain the flexibility to change paths during their time at the academy.
And, if a student were to decide that he or she no longer wants to pursue a career in the trades, the student can transfer to the Somerset College Preparatory Academy. Those attending the college prep charter, likewise, could transfer to the career academy if they were to decide college isn’t the path for them.
Keith Caron was one of many in the audience to take in the presentation. He introduced himself as a former culinary arts teacher from Connecticut. He said students started in the ninth grade and by the time they graduated, they had the experience needed to get jobs.
“They have the skill to support themselves while they find themselves,” he said. Caron added that having the career-tech all under one roof allows for students to be exposed indirectly to other trades, which might better help them determine their path.
The presentation was just one step to getting the charter school into the jobs corridor. The city and Somerset Academy Inc. are currently negotiating a contract for the land, which would be provided by the city.
Also, Somerset is preparing its application to the school district.
The council expects to vote on the negotiated contract this month.
