The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/867518
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 30, 2017 C-5 EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday Wood Memorial COMMUNITY TAILGATE FUN A Community TailGate is planned for Fri- day, September 1, 2017. Food, Games, Mu- sic, and Fun! Fun! Fun! . Come out to the football complex prior to the Trojan game with Rock Creek Academy. TECHNOLOGY IN CLASSROOMS Mr. Bartley and his student tech services team have been diligently working in prepa- ration of the rollout of our new 1:1 Technol- ogy initiative, including the distribution of our devices. During the first two plus weeks of school their time has been spent prepar- ing the iPads for instructional use. Along with this, Mr. Bartley has launched train- ing and development sessions with our in- structional staff. This training is aligned with our strategy to launch the device utili- zation through the engagement of Schoolo- gy and Formative Assessment tools. Device distribution is scheduled for the immediate period following Labor Day. I am confident you are going to share my excitement around the strategic use of technology in the classrooms being rolled out this fall. Our program is in the best of hands, with Mr. Bartley and his team of stu- dents. SUNRISE SCHOOL SPIRIT Our school community has an exciting opportunity to be a part of Sunrise School Spirit this fall. WFIE, Channel 14, will be on our campus Friday, September 8, 2017, to feature our students and staff. The pro- gram is planned for the high school foot- ball field, barring severe/inclement weath- er, beginning at 6 a.m. Everyone in our school community is in- vited to take part in this program. Please join us as this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase our wonderful children and the special communities of East Gibson. In order to assist those in need of trans- portation, Dr. Brewster has graciously de- veloped a plan for the utilization of East Gib- son school buses. For those needing a ride to Wood Memorial, the following pick up locations have been established: Francisco Elementary School, Barton Township Ele- mentary School, The Oakland City Fire Sta- tion, Oakland City First Church of the Naz- arene, City Hall, in Oakland City, and the nursing home. Buses will pick up passen- gers at 5:15 a.m. on Friday, September 8. COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS OPPORTUNITIES For the 2017 – 2018 school year, Wood Memorial will be providing opportunities for our students in grades 8 – 10 to expe- rience a college campus. This is a part of our focus to enhance opportunities around college and career readiness. The dates for the visits are as follows: 10th Graders – Sep- tember 13, 2017 (Indiana University), 9th Graders – September 26, 2017 ( Vincennes University), 8th Graders – October 3, 2017 (University of Southern Indiana). Ms. Eliz- abeth Hill has done a great job of coordinat- ing and scheduling the events. TROJAN PRIDE PERIOD The "Trojan Pride" period has been es- tablished to allow for students to have the opportunity to participate in a number of opportunities during the school day. These will include, but not be limited to: Peer Men- toring, Peer Tutoring, Faculty Mentoring, Faculty Tutoring, Extra – Curricular Club Participation, Assignment Make – Up, Con- flict Mediation, Additional Remediation, Character Development, Work Force De- velopment, Staff Development, Response – To – Intervention and Continuous Improve- ment. OPEN OFFICE SESSIONS Once again this year, I will be utilizing a CALENDAR Tuesday, Aug. 29 School Pictures, 8:00am Tennis vs. Princeton, 4:30pm Volleyball at White River Valley, 5:00pm Junior High School Volleyball vs. South Knox, 5:30pm Wednesday, Aug. 30 Auditions for Wood Memorial Sing- ers, Choir Room, 3:30pm Athletic Coaches Meeting, Library, 5:30pm Thursday, Aug. 31 Tennis at Pike Central, 4:30pm Boys Soccer at North Posey, 5:00pm Girls Soccer vs. North Posey, 5:00pm Junior High School Volleyball at South Spencer, 5:30pm Volleyball vs. Vincennes Lincoln, 5:30pm Wood Memorial High School Wres- tling Sign Up Meeting, Library, 6:45pm Friday, Sept. 1 Spirt Day Black Out Community TailGate, 5:00pm Football vs. Rock Creek Academy, 6:30pm ADDITIONAL DATES OF NOTE Indiana ECA – Summer, Aug. 21 – Sept. 1 1:1 Devices Issued, Sept. 5 – 8 Sunrise Friday – WFIE – 14, Sept. 8 Fall Sports Pictures, Sept. 13 State ADM, Sept. 15 IHSA A Fall Meetings, North Daviess High School, Sept. 18, 9:30 a.m. Professional Development Day, Sept. 20 Jostens – Freshman Class Ring Or- der, Sept. 21 Jostens – Freshman Class Ring Od- er, Sept. 28 Accuplacer – Part 1, Oct. 2 – Nov. 22 Blue Chip Spell Bowl, NE Dubois, Oct. 4 College Night, High School Cafete- ria, Oct. 5, 6:00 p.m. 2017 – 2018 National Honor Society Induction Oct. 23, 6:00 p.m. Jostens, Senior Graduation Order, Oct. 30 Senior Area Spell Bowl, October 30 collaborative opportunity for all members – students, staff, parents, guardians, and community members – of the Wood Me- morial School Community. With this said, I believe to be most effective with the de- velopment and growth of our students it is imperative that every stakeholder of Wood Memorial have an opportunity to collabo- rate and provide input in any area/aspect of interest involving our school(s) they may have. Thus, I will conduct monthly "Open Office" sessions, focused on providing time for such collaboration to occur. I encourage you to come meet anytime to review items of interest you may have. You may schedule a meeting by calling 812- 749 -4757 and requesting a time. The September "Open Office" session will be conducted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017. In keeping with the theme of collabo- ration and communication, I want to in- vite Wood Memorial stakeholders to fol- low the happenings at the junior high and high school by joining us on twitter at WM- Trojans1. The problem with economic development is we try to get new businesses in. What we need is to get new em- ployees in." Stephanie Wells, Indiana Manufacturing Association Manufacturers look at long-term workforce shortage By Janice Barniak As Toyota gears up next month to celebrate five million vehicles produced in Princeton, lawmak- ers might be looking at how to at- tract the next Toyota, even as man- ufacturers are looking hard at how they'll bring in the generation of employees to a field they say badly needs workers. Indiana Manu- facturing Associ- ation looks at is- sues facing man- ufacturers and at their region- al summit this week, hosted in the Toyota Vis- itor's Center, the big theme was workforce growth and combating negative stereotypes about manu- facturing work. By 2040, the Indiana Business Research Center has predicted a big drop in the workforce for people between the ages of 25 - 64. While in Gibson County the workforce is expected to drop by six percent, that's a relative- ly mild drop compared to nearby Posey County, with an estimated 31 percent workforce drop, and Pike County at 22 percent. That will hit the industrial sec- tor hard, said Brian Burton, IMA President and CEO, because man- ufacturing has been built on a gen- eration that is now aging out of the workforce, meanwhile Indiana, like many Midwestern states, is losing its graduates to the coasts— only half of Indiana graduates stay in the state after they finish their education. The idea of graduating high school, getting a manufacturing job and keeping it for life isn't cur- rent, he said. Now the job a person would get in a man- ufacturing plant has become more technical and re- quires more skill, and he expects that trend to con- tinue in upcoming years. Also, he said the state just needs more people in general. "We have a population issue. In the next 10 years, we're going to need to fill a million jobs in the state of Indiana," Burton said. In the next five years, he said 25 percent of manufacturing employ- ees are going to retire; in the next 10 years, 40 -45 percent of manu- facturing employees working now will be retired. "There's not enough population growth to support that," he said. "We need to attract people to In- diana to support this Renaissance in manufacturing." While some people look at au- tomation and see the potential for it to take jobs, Burton said that he sees it as an opportunity. Right now, Indiana is nearing full em- ployment, and will soon see the retirement trend Burton said pop- ulation numbers tell us to expect. With automation is the chance to turn what have been perceived as unskilled jobs into skilled ones. Those machines, he said, require maintenance and people to sup- port them. Likewise, he said manufactur- ing is working against a perception of instability even as the industry added more than 100,000 jobs in Indiana last year. He said the perception of insta- bility is caused by headlines con- cerned about outsourcing jobs overseas, which he said ignores much of the re-shoring that is be- ing done as well as manufacturer's difficulties in getting enough labor stateside. Stephanie Wells, director of Workforce Development, said the problem goes even deeper, into the schools. She advocated align- ing curriculum to manufacturing needs, and also the realities of the Indiana economy. During her time answering questions, local college coun- selors brought up an issue they see working with students, say- ing even those whose parents are working in manufacturing don't picture themselves in the career, young women especially. The three jobs that the counse- lors routinely see listed as the de- sired jobs of incoming freshman women are educators, child psy- chologists and neonatal nurses. When exposed recently during manufacturing days, where they can discuss jobs and wages with other women who work in manufacturing in a variety of capacities from machinists to engineers to vice-presidents, the women do seem to leave the event with more interest in those positions, however. Wells addressed the youth in- terest gap. While manufacturing presents 20 percent of available jobs, it only represents four per- cent of what students are inter- ested in pursuing, she said, and added that career counselors in middle and high school could be a bigger help directing students to these fields. "We need more people in the skilled industrial workspace," she said, giving the example of weld- ers and machinists as two of the critical spaces they need to fill. Students aren't aware of these po- sitions, because they don't get a lot of hits in job match questionnaires designed to help students match their interests to careers. When the state of Indiana pilot- ed a program available to allow stu- dents to take a test that would help them be matched to careers, only 12 students out of thousands of test takers were directed to manufactur- ing, she said, and that doesn't match job realities they'll face. There are a shortage of appli- cants even for entry level posi- tions. Manufacturing also faces a drug problem, she added. "We're getting squeezed from multiple different directions," she said. "We're ripe for growth in manufacturing, but without the workforce, it can't happen." Even if the climate changes in schools and counselors start di- recting the next crop of workers into the industrial sector, there's still a gap between now and when the students would enter the work- force. Currently, Wells said the IMA is interested in exploring what ef- fect offering relocation incentives would have on Indiana. "The problem with economic development is we try to get new businesses in," said Wells. "What we need is to get new employees in." She said that might mean offer- ing incentives to attract employees in high-need, skilled areas to relo- cate to the area. "We need to say, 'hey, we have a low cost of living, great schools, and we pay great wages for people in your industry,'" she said. Cathy Gendle, who organized the IMA event, said that since the association started touring last year, they've been getting the word out about where the jobs are. "Manufacturing is very impor- tant to the state of Indiana, and it's the number one mover of the econ- omy. We desperately need people to be involved and aware...we want to let people know, it's not an ag state anymore." With just-in-time manufac- turing, the kind of manufactur- ing many auto makers have of- ten moved to, Burton said compa- nies only have limited materials on site at a given time, which means the companies need the suppliers close by. With that trend, he said, the IMA is noticing that when a county convinces one manufactur- er to relocate to their area, there's a clustering effect of companies. Which brings up the question, again, of how to attract manufac- turers to Gibson County. When asked what the county can do to entice employers, he had a "build it and they will come" ap- proach. He said statewide, Indiana ranks high as a pro-business "is- land of reasonability" but not hav- ing the workforce is going to con- tinue to hold the state back. Locally, companies can differ- entiate themselves by having the infrastructure, ready workforce, great local schools and technical training programs on hand. Then the county has to package that to let companies know what the op- portunity is for them. "You have to look around," Bur- ton said. "You're sitting on a chair that was manufactured. You're wearing clothing that was manu- factured. Everything—the lights above you, the walls are manufac- tured...We have to look at reality rather than perception." Andrew Berger, with the Indiana Manufacturing Association, discusses the impact of legis- lation on manufacturing around the state. Janice Barniak photo