Focus is on future careers at Niagara Falls High School

Feb. 27—A new program at Niagara Falls High School would have students getting a clearer understanding of what career paths they'd like to pursue.

Numerous steps are being taken by the district to to have students prepared for post high school. Mark Laurrie, superintendent of the Niagara Falls School District, said this plan will be phased in over three years, starting with the next school year. It will prepare students for more than just college and ease them into that next phase of life. Laurrie said it's not enough for students to just earn a Regents or Advanced Regents diploma.

"It's time that public education puts value added to the top of those diplomas," Laurrie said. "And what do I mean by 'value added,' I mean that students who leave Niagara Falls High School have a right and we have an obligation to put a career pathway experience in conjunctions with that diploma. ... The most important thing is what we hope to accomplish, when you hand out those diplomas. In the next couple of years it will say Regents Diploma and Certified Nursing Assistantship Certificate, Regents Diploma and Certified Welder, Advanced Regents Diploma and Apprenticeship in Carpentry, Advanced Regents Diploma with 24 college credits. The public is owed that."

Cynthia Jones, chief educational administrator for Niagara Falls High School, described some of the updates and changes that will be done as part of this plan. Jones said in the past eight years, graduation rates have remained between 66% and 73%, meaning there's about 33% of 520 students students, 165 students, that are not graduating in four years. Other data she presented shows students considering numerous paths after graduation.

Most students choose a two-year school, and some choose a four-year school. Aside from that, students consider a bevy of options like going into trade schools, the military, etc. One of the new measures implemented would be a career and financial management course called CFM1 for all ninth-graders. She hopes this will give them an idea about the workforce and the different career paths available to them.

Jones said once they're in 10th grade they will take CFM 2 to take a deep dive into a career they're interested in. As planning for this program continues, she is hoping this will help all students to figure out the endgame in their areas of interest. However, this will take quite a bit of time, Jones said, with one of the immediate changes being the bell schedule.

"One of the changes you'll notice is students are going from 8 to 9 periods, so there's an extra period in the schedule," Jones said. "One of the problems that most of our students have, they have to choose between courses they prefer to take, and sometimes if a student had a double period of AP [Advanced Placement] but they are one of those students who likes to take band or chorus, they have to choose between those courses. Opening up the schedule and having an extra period means that the student who was an AP student who absolutely doesn't want to give up their AP classes will now not have to choose between AP or music."

Jones added the periods will be shortened to 40 minute periods from 48 minutes. Rather than choose between art, music or CFM, students will be able to take all three starting in the 2021-2022 school year. Finally, BOCES classes will begin at 8:15 a.m. instead of starting at 7:20 a.m because first period is often poorly attended. Teacher's schedules will remain relatively the same with some minor changes, an exception being increasing their assigned and unassigned periods.

Plenty of interest has already been generated in this new program with numerous colleges and medical professionals contacting the district to partner with them.