WHITING | School leaders are eying a manufacturing program at a Chicago high school that could be good for students in Whiting.
Dan Swinney, the founder of Austin Polytech High School in Chicago and the executive director of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, spoke to board members Jan. 26 about the technical school and how it got started.
He said the school is located in a high-crime area and is a combination of three schools that closed. It is operated through a contract with the Chicago Public Schools.
Swinney, who came from a manufacturing background, said companies want a much more skilled labor force. He said it's not like the old concept of manufacturing, where people worked in a factory-like setting operating a machine. He said employees have to know how to use computers and manage complex equipment.
"We found that the public education system has not kept pace with the changes in manufacturing," Swinney said, adding that traditional school districts have failed to meet the needs.
Swinney also said students who graduate from Austin Polytech are prepared to take a job in manufacturing with a beginning salary of $20 an hour. He said many of the salaries are around $64,000 compared with a salary of half of that in the service industry.
Dennis Laurincik, who graduated from Whiting High School in 1990, is a teacher at Austin Polytech. He said the students love the school and have to be "kicked out the door" to go home. He said the school operates on a longer day, with a robotics program, physical education and other activities after school.
Whiting Superintendent Sandra Martinez said this is just a first look at the program for the board. She said it offers a host of opportunities for students who may not want to go to college. Martinez said she'd be interested in looking at a program that could be established for Whiting students.
She said she'd like to talk to area businesses to determine if there would be any interest in supporting a program for Whiting students. Neither Martinez nor the board set any sort of timetable to develop the program and put it into place.
One parent, Jackie Glascow, thought the program was a good idea for Whiting students, and could help the district to attract students as it looked at a policy to grow its enrollment.
