Feb 24, 2005 By Steve Ostrosky 4 min read

A decision by Brownsville Area School District board members to withdraw its students from the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School will have a “devastating impact” on the school’s operation, according to its assistant director. Dr. Edward Jeffreys said the Brownsville board’s action will require a review of all 18 shops at the Georges Township school.

“Generally speaking, we’re going to have to downsize the number of shops,” he said. “We have 18 great programs, and we’re going to have to pick which great programs to cut.”

School board members in Brownsville Area School District voted Tuesday to enroll the district’s vo-tech students at the Mon Valley Career & Technology Center in Speers for the 2005-06 school term, with the cost based on tuition charges as per membership set by MVCTC and contingent upon an agreement with the school.

However, Brownsville Area seniors will have the option to attend either school next year.

Brownsville board members began exploring a withdrawal from the vo-tech after learning that 22 students were turned away this school year. They also expressed concern about low scores on state standardized tests and the transportation time between Brownsville Area High School and the vo-tech.

At the start of the current school year, the vo-tech administration implemented a new schedule alignment where 9th and 10th grade students spend one semester in a particular shop, while 11th and 12th grade students are in the shop during the other semester.

Jeffreys said the administration met with all four school districts for two years prior to the change, and there was little opposition.

“We recognized that having 9th through 12th graders in the same shop at the same time doesn’t make sense academically, and having 13-year-olds with 19-year-olds could be a big problem,” he said. “We felt that 9th and 10th graders would be able to cover all their competencies by their junior year and could co-op in their senior year.”

He admitted that a consequence of the schedule realignment has been a waiting list for some shops, but all four districts had students who did not get admitted to their first choice. Within a few semesters, the shops would be able to accommodate any student who wanted to enroll, he said.

Jeffreys said one-third of the 22 students who were turned away only wanted one particular shop and did not want to enroll in another program at the school.

Seats in each shop are allotted to each district based on the number of students each district sends and the amount each district contributes to the school. According to Jeffreys, in any given shop, Albert Gallatin receives the most seats, followed by Uniontown, Laurel Highlands and Brownsville.

If another district does not take all the seats it has been offered, those seats become available to the other school districts, he explained.

For 2004-05, according to the operating budget, Albert Gallatin Area will pay $937,075.60, Brownsville Area will pay $341,476, Laurel Highlands will pay $607,510.88, and Uniontown Area will pay $643,246.81.

Jeffreys said a decision last week by school directors in the Laurel Highlands School District to keep all ninth graders at their home school starting next school year also will impact the vo-tech, as the administration expects Uniontown and Albert Gallatin school districts to follow suit.

“We will re-evaluate each shop and we’ll look at what we can do to better serve our home school districts,” he said. “We believe we’re doing the right thing, the schools will do the right thing and together we’ll get it done.”

Brownsville Area is still responsible for its share of debt service, which will be paid until 2008, and will pay the vo-tech for any students who may attend in the 2005-06 school year.

Jeffreys said the vo-tech is in need of repairs totaling between $8 million and $10 million, according to early estimates, while some architects have suggested a new $35 million facility might be a better option.

In either case, a bond issue would be needed to pay for such work and each district would be responsible for paying its share of the debt service. Jeffreys said that a Brownsville pullout would exempt the district from any new debt the vo-tech may incur.

Mon Valley Career & Technology Center has enrolled approximately 400 students this year from Bentworth, Bethlehem-Center, California, Charleroi, Monessen and Ringgold school districts. The school offers a half-day program, rather than the “semester about” program offered at FCAVTS.

The school has shops in auto collision repair, automotive mechanics, carpentry, computer networking and maintenance, computer programming, cosmetology, culinary arts, electrical power technology, health occupations, masonry, multimedia design, precision machining, and protective services.

Students who attend MVCTC spend half the school day at Mon Valley and the other half of the day at their home school.

A majority of board members in all four school districts must approve Brownsville’s plan, Jeffreys said.