Stepping up to the Plate

A recent survey of Employers in Adams County, Colorado, found that 60% of employers are dissatisfied with the job skills of potential employees coming out of the public schools. But only 16% of those dissatisfied employers are willing to work with the schools to change the problem. It's certainly affirmation for us that we are stepping up to the plate and doing the job others won't. The Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute worked with the Adams County Education Consortium for more than a year to develop an apprentice training program that articulates from the public high schools (as a vo-tech program) to the community college (as an associates degree). The program just started its second semester and demand was so great that we had to double the number of sections offered and the college had to hire a second instructor. We talked with a high school guidance counselor today who said she has another 30 students who want to enroll in the program in the fall. Here's a link to an article in today's New York Times about what a difference a college degree can make as the gap grows between the wealthy and the poor and middle class http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/20mobility.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin