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Danville Chamber hosts teacher academy to assess jobs

June 11, 2010

More than 33 educators from seven school districts participated June 7-9 in the Danville-Boyle County Chamber of Commerce Workforce Development Committee’s 2010 Teacher Academy.

The program is designed to identify the factors that enable and inhibit an adequately skilled labor force to support economic growth in Danville and Boyle County and to identify strategies to address those factors starting among students at the middle and high school levels.

The academy consisted of an opening session at Inter-County Energy’s community room and site visits throughout the week. A four-hour wrap-up completed the academy on Wednesday.

During the introduction, participants gained awareness of the scope of businesses and the diversity of jobs and careers that exist in Boyle County, the job skill deficiencies that local employers have identified among applicants, local and national trends and projections for jobs and job skills needed in the future, and the impact the workforce issues have on economic growth and development.

Student preparation discussed

Part of this intensive orientation included the presentation “Preparing Students for the 21st Century Workplace,” presented by Boyle County School Superintendent Mike Lafavers and Danville Independent School Superintendent Carmen Coleman. A lively discussion of issues surrounding workforce development in both school systems followed the presentation.

Attendees split into groups for site visits. The idea behind the visits was to identify and experience first-hand the career/job opportunities, the necessary job skills and behaviors, and examples of real world application of academics within each Boyle County business. Each group rotated between participating business partners. Industries and businesses that participated in the visits were Denyo, R.R. Donnelley, Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center, Corning, Hitachi, The Advocate-Messenger, American Greetings, Inter-County Energy, Caterpillar, Farmers National Bank, Panasonic, Hobart and National Office Furniture.

On Wednesday, the educators met back at Inter-County to compare and learn from experiences and observations of the other participants and identify three specific outcomes to incorporate into teaching plans in the next year.

“There’s such a great value in bringing together our educators and business leaders to assess needs in both regards, said Paula Fowler, executive director of Danville/Boyle County Chamber of Commerce. “I’m also excited to report of the three years we’ve had the program, this is by far the largest.”

Participating school districts this year were Boyle County, Danville, Garrard County, KSD, Casey County, Lincoln County and Mercer County.

To see more on the 2010 Teachers Academy, view the video at http://www.youtube.com/DanBoyleEDP. To see an informational PowerPoint presentation regarding the program, go to http://www.slideshare.net/DanBoyleEDP/.

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