Latest / Aired Out / Jody Emerson - Superintendent/Director of the Central Vermont Career Center

Transcript

Jody Emerson - Superintendent/Director of the Central Vermont Career Center · Aired Out

0:24
Speaker 1: All right, good morning everybody, and welcome to a new week.
1:53
Speaker 1: Welcome to a brand new day. It is fifty two degrees.
1:57
Speaker 1: It is just delightful. This morning happens. I know one
2:00
Speaker 1: of these mornings is going to be the last morning
2:03
Speaker 1: of driving in with the windows down, but so so nice.
2:08
Speaker 1: Partly cloudy and seventy seven degrees for the daytime high today.
2:14
Speaker 1: You're in luck for the weather here if you got
2:17
Speaker 1: outdoor projects this week, just like last week, it's going
2:20
Speaker 1: to beautiful tonight, upper forties, a few clouds. Tomorrow, cloudy
2:24
Speaker 1: in the morning, sunny in the afternoon and hies around
2:28
Speaker 1: eighty degrees. Wow. Wednesday, mostly cloudy, upper seventies. Thursday looks great,
2:35
Speaker 1: mostly sunny, eighty one. And then all the way I
2:39
Speaker 1: had snapshot to Friday, Saturday, Sunday sunshine and near seventy degrees.
2:48
Speaker 1: What a weekend it was. The Battle in Bury seventeen
2:52
Speaker 1: comes to a close up at the very auditorium on
2:54
Speaker 1: Saturday night with Donnybrook Fight promotions and just an amazing
2:59
Speaker 1: experience up there. Thank you to all of the sponsors,
3:04
Speaker 1: the volunteers, the folks working behind the scenes, the production crew,
3:09
Speaker 1: and mostly the fans. For making it such an incredible
3:14
Speaker 1: night on Saturday. Battle and Barry eighteen is December sixth,
3:20
Speaker 1: and Rex is going to be in Friday. We'll be
3:22
Speaker 1: talking a whole heck of a lot about that and
3:25
Speaker 1: recapping this past Saturday night. National Online Learning Day Today,
3:30
Speaker 1: gotta say happy birthday to Jed Forbis, my good friend.
3:37
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how old he is. He doesn't even
3:39
Speaker 1: know how old he is. We had this conversation last night.
3:41
Speaker 1: He's I said, how old he is? I really I
3:43
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm sure he does. Shane Gladding, Jordan Barnett,
3:49
Speaker 1: Greg Parker on the list today, another great guy and
3:53
Speaker 1: Matt White also Bradley Smart. Happy birthday to you Seahawks
3:58
Speaker 1: and Patriots winners yesterday in the NFL. I didn't get
4:02
Speaker 1: a chance to watch any football yesterday, but I heard
4:06
Speaker 1: that Sunday night football was fantastic. Don't forget as you're
4:11
Speaker 1: trudgeon through the week, you've got some opportunities to get
4:14
Speaker 1: to the movies. Five dollars Tuesdays are back at the
4:17
Speaker 1: Capitol Theater and five dollars Wednesdays are at the Paramount Theater.
4:23
Speaker 1: Skip the line grab you tickets at FGB Theaters dot com.
4:27
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4:32
Speaker 1: special events, and so much more. One of our presenting
4:35
Speaker 1: sponsors here at the aired out podcast FGB Theaters Get
4:39
Speaker 1: to the Movies with Me in the studio this morning,
4:43
Speaker 1: is Jody Emers. So glad you're here. Thank you so
4:46
Speaker 1: much for coming in here, Jody.
4:48
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. It's been a while, it
4:50
Speaker 2: has It's always fun to be here, though.
4:52
Speaker 1: I don't know when it was when you were in
4:54
Speaker 1: here last, but it was quite a while ago, and
4:57
Speaker 1: I'm thrilled that you're here. You are the superintendent, the director,
5:03
Speaker 1: the big dog at the Central Fromont Career Center over there.
5:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, I get to do both jobs.
5:10
Speaker 1: What do you tell us before we dive into what's
5:14
Speaker 1: going on in November fourth and all of this. What
5:18
Speaker 1: is a typical day like for you? Or is that
5:21
Speaker 1: a hysterical question that you know.
5:24
Speaker 2: Any school administrator, there is no typical day. You can
5:28
Speaker 2: try to plan it and it just doesn't go that way.
5:32
Speaker 2: I think probably I'm a little bit luckier than some
5:35
Speaker 2: of my sending schools as far as that goes, because
5:37
Speaker 2: a lot of times my calendar doesn't shift a whole lot.
5:40
Speaker 2: But the best part about it is Tuesdays are my favorite.
5:44
Speaker 2: I get to greet students at the door, and that's
5:47
Speaker 2: always fun to see students coming in and they're excited
5:49
Speaker 2: to come see us. And then I like to take
5:52
Speaker 2: some time to walk around and check out what's going
5:54
Speaker 2: on across the center. And at the beginning of the year,
5:57
Speaker 2: there's a lot of safety training that has to happen
6:01
Speaker 2: OSHA ten, serve Safe Managerial, all of those sort of things. Wow,
6:05
Speaker 2: so it's a little less exciting. Soon they'll get into
6:08
Speaker 2: those projects that are really a lot of fun and
6:10
Speaker 2: you can see why students came and what they're passionate about.
6:13
Speaker 1: Sure you know, I was just chatting with you off
6:17
Speaker 1: the air, and I was saying that when I was
6:21
Speaker 1: in high school, how blessed I would have been to
6:26
Speaker 1: have had an opportunity to learn some of these real
6:31
Speaker 1: work skills, these real life skills, in addition to the
6:38
Speaker 1: core curriculum, which of course is important, but man to
6:42
Speaker 1: just be able to have the options, whether it's become
6:47
Speaker 1: a paramedic and EMT, a firefighter, a mechanic, a carpenter,
6:53
Speaker 1: the list goes on and on. That would have been
6:56
Speaker 1: just incredible. And there's some and you know this, I
6:59
Speaker 1: mean know this, there's just some kids out there, some
7:03
Speaker 1: students that's this standard path through to and through education
7:13
Speaker 1: is just not something that they necessarily thrive on.
7:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I'm sort of disappointed with the idea
7:23
Speaker 2: of transforming education in Vermont and not talking about that more.
7:27
Speaker 2: I think there's more than just governance and finance that
7:29
Speaker 2: goes with transforming education and making it engaging and meaningful
7:33
Speaker 2: for all kids. Well said, Yeah, and I think about
7:37
Speaker 2: when I was in high school. I grew up in Vermont,
7:40
Speaker 2: and I went to Oxbow High School and so Riverbend
7:44
Speaker 2: was right there the Tech Center, and my brother went
7:46
Speaker 2: to that, and there was no expectation from my family
7:49
Speaker 2: that I would although I certainly could have. I definitely
7:53
Speaker 2: ate the cookies from the culinary department because they were yummy.
7:55
Speaker 2: And I took part in the typing class that was offered.
7:59
Speaker 2: So there were some you know, shorter classes, and then
8:01
Speaker 2: there was the longer CTE programming, and thank goodness I
8:05
Speaker 2: did that because that allowed me to help you pay
8:09
Speaker 2: for college a little bit by typing other people's papers.
8:11
Speaker 2: I don't know if that even happens anymore. But and
8:15
Speaker 2: it gave me the skills to be able to take
8:17
Speaker 2: notes and keep up. And I think about some of
8:20
Speaker 2: the other things that I might have been able to
8:22
Speaker 2: learn there that I didn't. My brother did take advantage
8:24
Speaker 2: of it, and he did their heavy equipment program. I
8:27
Speaker 2: think he was one of the first in that program
8:30
Speaker 2: got his CDL and the rest is history, right, He's
8:33
Speaker 2: been all sorts of great jobs. My son went to
8:35
Speaker 2: Randolph Tech, thank goodness, because traditional high school wasn't the
8:39
Speaker 2: thing for him, and that he did the diesel program
8:43
Speaker 2: down there, which was amazing and just a game changer
8:46
Speaker 2: for him. And that story is true for so many students.
8:49
Speaker 2: So many it doesn't matter what tech center they go to, yep,
8:52
Speaker 2: the opportunity to see to do the work that's related
8:56
Speaker 2: to something they're interested in. And it's not the vocational
9:00
Speaker 2: school in the past, when you and I were in
9:02
Speaker 2: school or before that. It's so different. Every program is
9:06
Speaker 2: required to have at least two industry recognized credentials, or
9:10
Speaker 2: to have two college courses associated with it, or both
9:14
Speaker 2: an industry recognized credential and a college course. So there's
9:17
Speaker 2: so much that students are getting out of the career
9:20
Speaker 2: in technical education today, and they can go to college.
9:23
Speaker 2: There's some people who still are like, oh, you either
9:25
Speaker 2: have to go to the trade school or you go
9:27
Speaker 2: to college. That's not true anymore. You can do whichever
9:31
Speaker 2: one suits your pathway, if there's room, and if you
9:33
Speaker 2: get accepted.
9:35
Speaker 1: There's so many of us that are young, either kids
9:40
Speaker 1: or young adults, who are just wired in a way.
9:44
Speaker 1: And I'm one of them. Show me, don't tell me.
9:49
Speaker 1: We had game night last night at a friend's house
9:51
Speaker 1: and the rules of the game were being explained to
9:54
Speaker 1: me for like a half an hour, and I'm like, no,
9:57
Speaker 1: let's just get going with the game here. I want
9:58
Speaker 1: to show me what that's happening. I want to see
10:01
Speaker 1: with my hands. And then of course it's It was
10:04
Speaker 1: great after that. But there's a lot of there's a
10:06
Speaker 1: lot of kids that are like that. They're like, got
10:09
Speaker 1: to get my hands on it. I have to I
10:11
Speaker 1: have to be doing yeah.
10:13
Speaker 2: And if I get my hands on it, and then
10:15
Speaker 2: I also realize I have to learn this code or
10:18
Speaker 2: I have to learn how to do this, and see
10:20
Speaker 2: the instructions for it too, I can put them together.
10:23
Speaker 2: Because now that reading is valuable.
10:25
Speaker 1: Right, I'm on your web page right now. Before I
10:30
Speaker 1: even go an inch further, I got to tell you
10:32
Speaker 1: my first time walking through the doors over at the
10:37
Speaker 1: Central from my Career Center. I was so absolutely blown away.
10:42
Speaker 1: But I was also a little and this was a
10:47
Speaker 1: this was a while ago. I was also a little
10:49
Speaker 1: almost kind of like surprised with myself that I'm saying
10:56
Speaker 1: in the voice in my head. Where, why haven't you
10:59
Speaker 1: been in here a long time ago?
11:01
Speaker 3: What?
11:01
Speaker 1: You didn't even know that this existed. I mean, you've
11:06
Speaker 1: driven by Spaulding High School a million times, but the
11:11
Speaker 1: Career Center is almost kind of a separate building. They're attached, but.
11:18
Speaker 2: We have a wing. We're around the backside of the building,
11:21
Speaker 2: so you don't Yeah, we don't smack you in the faces.
11:23
Speaker 2: We're here, you know, but we have a wing of
11:26
Speaker 2: the high school that we use, and we've tried to
11:29
Speaker 2: take a little more space over time, and occasionally we
11:32
Speaker 2: get it.
11:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, just walking through those halls and seeing the different
11:37
Speaker 1: departments is unbelievable. And just walking down the hall and
11:43
Speaker 1: just looking through the glass and seeing these kids actually
11:48
Speaker 1: doing like really in the midst of a project, a
11:54
Speaker 1: real project. Look at what Habitat for Humanity, right, Yeah.
11:59
Speaker 2: I mean that's been a wonderful experience to be able
12:02
Speaker 2: to walk to the Hill Street twenty two Hill Street
12:06
Speaker 2: and see students from building trades there and electrical up
12:09
Speaker 2: there helping out. I mean, all the electrical wiring was
12:12
Speaker 2: pulled by the electrical students last year, and all of
12:16
Speaker 2: the framing for it was actually done at the Career
12:18
Speaker 2: Center and then moved up there, and then the kids
12:22
Speaker 2: went up and put the dry wall up, and we're
12:24
Speaker 2: continuing to help out throughout the year. It's just phenomenal,
12:27
Speaker 2: and I know that they really appreciate the experience. It's
12:31
Speaker 2: a whole other thing when you can see that you're
12:33
Speaker 2: giving back to your community as well, like you're learning
12:35
Speaker 2: what you want to learn, you're learning how to make
12:37
Speaker 2: stairs and how to frame up a building, but then
12:40
Speaker 2: you're also knowing that it's giving back to someone, it's
12:43
Speaker 2: going to use that.
12:44
Speaker 1: I wish I could chat with all of these kids
12:48
Speaker 1: and have an opportunity to just remind them how lucky
12:55
Speaker 1: they are to be able to have this. I mean, here,
12:57
Speaker 1: I am fifty four years old. I can't frame up anything.
13:02
Speaker 1: I mean, ask my friends, they'll they'll tell you fix
13:04
Speaker 1: in a car, maybe an oil change, possibly, if I'm lucky,
13:09
Speaker 1: changing over a couple of flat tire. But that's it.
13:14
Speaker 1: That's it. That's just stop my bag. Plumbing, electrical, forget it.
13:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, same, forget it same. I can change a tire
13:22
Speaker 2: and I can change the oil because my dad wouldn't
13:23
Speaker 2: let me leave the house with a car without knowing
13:25
Speaker 2: how to do those things.
13:26
Speaker 1: That's a good dad.
13:27
Speaker 2: Yep. He was a mechanic and then had an excavation business,
13:31
Speaker 2: so yeah, he trained me right there.
13:33
Speaker 1: But watch this girl carefully. That's good.
13:36
Speaker 2: As far as the electrical, the plumbing, I definitely couldn't
13:39
Speaker 2: do that on my own. And it's it's fun to
13:43
Speaker 2: go in there and learn from the kids because they can.
13:46
Speaker 2: After a while, they're they're telling you what they did
13:48
Speaker 2: and you ask them why, and they can tell you
13:50
Speaker 2: why and really can back it up. It's great.
13:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm on your site right now. The board goal
13:58
Speaker 1: of the Central Vermont Career Center the ability to serve
14:02
Speaker 1: all eligible students in our region and to provide programming
14:05
Speaker 1: that fulfills the needs of students, employers, and the community.
14:09
Speaker 1: Key points for the Central FROMOT Career center, your present
14:14
Speaker 1: facilities are preventing us from doing so. Those are the
14:19
Speaker 1: words from your site. How So, because the words out,
14:24
Speaker 1: the secret's out. The popularity is there, that this thing
14:28
Speaker 1: is growing.
14:28
Speaker 2: We need space, definitely, I think since everything we do
14:33
Speaker 2: nowadays is kind of since COVID, Right, So since COVID,
14:36
Speaker 2: the numbers of students interested in attending the CBCC has grown,
14:40
Speaker 2: and just this past year looking to get in. This
14:44
Speaker 2: year we had four hundred and twenty three individual applicants.
14:48
Speaker 2: We had more applications than that, but that's you said,
14:50
Speaker 2: this past year. Yeah, for this year, yep. So we
14:55
Speaker 2: had more applications because some students didn't get in the
14:58
Speaker 2: first round they tried again second round. Four hundred and
15:01
Speaker 2: twenty three individual different separate people applied to get in
15:05
Speaker 2: for about two hundred and forty seats. We started the
15:08
Speaker 2: year with two hundred and sixteen. And that's because in
15:11
Speaker 2: some of the area, students that got accepted, for whatever reason,
15:15
Speaker 2: chose not to. They might have gone to early college,
15:17
Speaker 2: they might have decided not to leave their sending school
15:19
Speaker 2: for the amount of time that they are with us.
15:22
Speaker 2: Sometimes that's because of graduation requirements. Sometimes they don't want
15:25
Speaker 2: to leave their friends. So there's a couple of programs
15:28
Speaker 2: where we did still have a little bit of room,
15:30
Speaker 2: but the majority of our programs are full. They have
15:32
Speaker 2: a wait list, and we sent actually some of our
15:35
Speaker 2: kids down a Randolph this year, so we have probably
15:39
Speaker 2: between thirty and forty U thirty two Montpillier Spalding kids
15:45
Speaker 2: that are headed down to Randolph instead of in our
15:48
Speaker 2: center because we didn't have enough space, and thankfully they
15:50
Speaker 2: had some openings for them, so they took some of
15:53
Speaker 2: that overflow for us, and we just we can't expand
15:58
Speaker 2: into the spaces that we would need at the high school.
16:02
Speaker 2: It was quite a battle a couple of years ago
16:04
Speaker 2: just to get that new welding lab. That program was
16:07
Speaker 2: full last year, it's full again this year. Very exciting.
16:11
Speaker 2: Everything in that lab can move with us if we move,
16:14
Speaker 2: so we made sure to really planned for that and
16:17
Speaker 2: renovating that space which was originally a tech ed classroom
16:22
Speaker 2: and then moved to the maintenance shop for Bury Unified
16:26
Speaker 2: Union School District and then now it's our welding shop.
16:29
Speaker 2: Half a million dollars to renovate that space to make
16:32
Speaker 2: sure that we could get kids into welding and there
16:34
Speaker 2: is a huge need. I think we have three maybe
16:36
Speaker 2: four students from that program last year working at DMS now.
16:40
Speaker 1: Five hundred k Wow, yep, this I'm just having clients
16:50
Speaker 1: at your website here. You also need to make sure
16:54
Speaker 1: that you've got enough staff to be driving the bus.
16:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're fully staffed right now. Okay, it's very exciting.
17:03
Speaker 1: We just need more space. I mean, this is good
17:08
Speaker 1: news that you're needing to expand you're needing to grow.
17:13
Speaker 1: This is an indication of a shift in our our
17:20
Speaker 1: culture that more and more kids are wanting to get
17:24
Speaker 1: into the trades.
17:26
Speaker 2: Well, it's I think a recognition that there's, like you said,
17:28
Speaker 2: a shift in the culture that you know, a college
17:32
Speaker 2: degree used to mean something. And in some cases, you
17:35
Speaker 2: can get that college degree and you can't find a job,
17:38
Speaker 2: Whereas you might be able to get the skills that
17:41
Speaker 2: you need to be in a trade from high school
17:44
Speaker 2: and you might have to go and take a few
17:46
Speaker 2: more courses or get a few more certificates for that.
17:49
Speaker 2: But you can also go straight into that trade and
17:51
Speaker 2: start working and you don't have these huge bills that
17:53
Speaker 2: you're wondering how am I going to pay them back?
17:55
Speaker 2: Can go and then we know that there's a deficit
17:58
Speaker 2: that the variety of plumbers, electricians, that they're getting older
18:02
Speaker 2: and they're retiring or retired, and we have job openings,
18:06
Speaker 2: so the prices are going sky high because we don't
18:08
Speaker 2: have enough people to do those jobs right now. So
18:11
Speaker 2: the more people we can put into them, the little
18:15
Speaker 2: a little bit more comfort we can have in paying
18:17
Speaker 2: for that stuff and knowing that we can get somebody
18:21
Speaker 2: to come in and it's going to be tomorrow instead
18:23
Speaker 2: of two weeks from now.
18:24
Speaker 1: Sure, boy, all of those are such great key points.
18:30
Speaker 1: And it doesn't matter if it's the building trades, if
18:33
Speaker 1: it's the automotive trades. Everyone's looking. Everyone's looking to hire.
18:41
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:41
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, drud General Transport is one of
18:45
Speaker 1: our presenting sponsors. They're always saying, Hey, we got another
18:52
Speaker 1: CDL course coming up, get on board right this wave
18:57
Speaker 1: right now. I mean everyone is looking to hire truck
19:01
Speaker 1: drivers right now everywhere, yeah, right, like right here, within
19:07
Speaker 1: a mile or two of where I'm sitting right now,
19:10
Speaker 1: let alone the rest of the country. If you want to.
19:12
Speaker 2: Move absolutely, I think we just need to help kids
19:15
Speaker 2: find where they're where are they interested, where are they going?
19:18
Speaker 2: To enjoy working. What are they going to want to
19:20
Speaker 2: do with their life, and to explore all of those
19:23
Speaker 2: things and then give them the skills that they need
19:25
Speaker 2: to move forward in that and be successful.
19:27
Speaker 1: What's happening November fourth?
19:30
Speaker 2: November fourth is a traditional election day, and we have
19:34
Speaker 2: a bond vote going out for a new building. So
19:38
Speaker 2: I see it as our once in a lifetime opportunity
19:40
Speaker 2: to invest in the future of Central Vermont and our kids,
19:44
Speaker 2: and to improve access to career and technical education right here.
19:49
Speaker 2: And to also build that tax space and build the
19:53
Speaker 2: you know, the businesses around here stronger and keep them going.
19:57
Speaker 2: It's it's really an investment in our community.
20:00
Speaker 1: When you say the word vote, it's a or November fourth,
20:05
Speaker 1: it's a hot button for our community. And when we
20:09
Speaker 1: hear when we hear those words, those buzzwords, our minds
20:15
Speaker 1: just jump into different gears, you know, either pro or con.
20:24
Speaker 1: You know, but just stop and just educate yourself, be
20:31
Speaker 1: be aware of the positive things that really could potentially
20:37
Speaker 1: be for us. I'm going to show you some pictures
20:39
Speaker 1: here in a second that you're just not going to believe.
20:43
Speaker 1: So pay attention to your monetary You got to see
20:47
Speaker 1: this but man, this is the tide is high right now.
20:52
Speaker 1: If you your vote is really critical. I know the
20:58
Speaker 1: word bond is a hot button. I know the word
21:01
Speaker 1: vote is a hot button. And then you combine the
21:03
Speaker 1: two and everybody is sensitive about this. But this is
21:08
Speaker 1: your opportunity. What is what is this going to cost taxpayers?
21:14
Speaker 1: Because I know that folks when they hear bond vote,
21:17
Speaker 1: are like, Wow, what's this going to cost me? What's
21:20
Speaker 1: going to happen to my taxes? What's the bottom line here?
21:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's one hundred and forty nine million dollar
21:26
Speaker 2: project and we've tried to figure out because people are
21:29
Speaker 2: asking that question, right. I don't think there's anyone who's
21:32
Speaker 2: against career and technical education one hundred percent support of that.
21:36
Speaker 2: It's whether or not I feel like I can afford
21:39
Speaker 2: this now in my taxes, and there's you know, taxes
21:43
Speaker 2: have gone up for everybody, and so it's a do
21:46
Speaker 2: I say no because I don't feel like I can
21:47
Speaker 2: afford my taxes? Or do I say yes because I
21:50
Speaker 2: believe in it and we'll figure it out.
21:52
Speaker 1: Sure.
21:53
Speaker 2: What we did to try to figure out the cost
21:56
Speaker 2: in that chart that you're showing right there, is to
21:59
Speaker 2: look at current because there's so much up in the air,
22:02
Speaker 2: and unfortunately I don't have a crystal ball. I don't
22:04
Speaker 2: know if you do, JD.
22:05
Speaker 1: I did once it's good, chip hit it.
22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we had to use what we currently do
22:13
Speaker 2: for our spending and budgeting. So we took and imagined
22:17
Speaker 2: that that thirty year bond that we were paying back
22:19
Speaker 2: in generally equal amount over the thirty years, and we
22:23
Speaker 2: pretended that we were paying it back this year. Now
22:25
Speaker 2: if it gets passed, we're not paying it back this year.
22:27
Speaker 2: It doesn't start until we open the doors of that
22:29
Speaker 2: new building, right, And there could be different iterations of it,
22:34
Speaker 2: and we also might find extra funding somewhere. You never know.
22:37
Speaker 2: But what we did was we took that and imagine
22:40
Speaker 2: that we had to pay back one of the thirty
22:42
Speaker 2: year payments in f y twenty six. How much would
22:46
Speaker 2: that alone add on? And our budgeting is done on
22:50
Speaker 2: a six semester average of students, So even when we
22:53
Speaker 2: increase that new welding program where we've had full we
22:56
Speaker 2: only have three semesters, so we can only count those
22:59
Speaker 2: kids for half the time they've been with us. For
23:01
Speaker 2: the other half, we don't get to count them so
23:03
Speaker 2: a sixth semester average based on the number of students
23:07
Speaker 2: coming from each sending school over those six semesters. We
23:10
Speaker 2: allocated it out to our sending districts and then divided
23:15
Speaker 2: in among the towns and the sending districts, which is
23:17
Speaker 2: super complicated to think about. And so it ranged from
23:22
Speaker 2: a ninety nine dollars addition to taxes in Cabot to
23:25
Speaker 2: a four hundred and twenty dollars edition and I think
23:27
Speaker 2: mont Piliar or is Montpiliar, And so there's that range.
23:31
Speaker 2: It's an average of two hundred and ninety four dollars
23:34
Speaker 2: more in taxes each year if we look at this
23:38
Speaker 2: current year. And so it's not real. We can't really
23:43
Speaker 2: talk about real numbers and what the real impact is,
23:45
Speaker 2: but it's giving people a sense of what it might be.
23:47
Speaker 1: I hope the governor is aware of this, assuming that
23:53
Speaker 1: he is and paying attention to this, assuming that he is,
23:57
Speaker 1: because getting kids through this program and they're going to
24:04
Speaker 1: have jobs waiting for him before they've even graduated. Yeah,
24:08
Speaker 1: you know that.
24:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and most of them stay right here, they stay
24:12
Speaker 2: in the state.
24:12
Speaker 1: That's my point. That's my point right there. This is
24:16
Speaker 1: the lifeblood of Vermont. This is what's going to make
24:24
Speaker 1: this state sustainable, affordable. This is going to have a
24:30
Speaker 1: direct impact on housing, et cetera, et cetera.
24:34
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I got here. I got a question over the
24:36
Speaker 2: weekend of why didn't you wait for the school construction
24:40
Speaker 2: to be financed again? And great question? But will it?
24:45
Speaker 2: Can we wait? And if there's a transition right now,
24:49
Speaker 2: all eighteen towns of our district get to vote on this.
24:53
Speaker 2: We don't know if in this transformation we might be
24:56
Speaker 2: put in with a regional district. We don't know if
24:58
Speaker 2: we're going to be put into a statewide CTE district.
25:01
Speaker 2: We don't know what's going to happen with redistricting. Now
25:04
Speaker 2: is the time for the people in our communities to
25:06
Speaker 2: tell us if this is the right move or not.
25:09
Speaker 2: We can't wait for school construction funding that may or
25:12
Speaker 2: may not happen.
25:13
Speaker 1: This new building would be on twenty seven acres in Graniteville.
25:20
Speaker 1: In Graniteville, I'm going to show a map here, but
25:25
Speaker 1: tell us tell us where. I mean, there's some great
25:27
Speaker 1: points here, some real positives, But tell us where.
25:31
Speaker 2: It's on sixteen Baptist Street in Graniteville, Vermont. And it's
25:35
Speaker 2: not too far from a lot of barry history in
25:38
Speaker 2: the granite quarries and some of the things that are
25:41
Speaker 2: important about the maps and why as you zoom in
25:44
Speaker 2: closer to the building, you can see that there are
25:48
Speaker 2: other big buildings nearby, so it's not like the biggest
25:52
Speaker 2: thing that's going in there.
25:56
Speaker 1: Okay, So this is if you're passing Rock of Ages. Ye,
26:04
Speaker 1: and you continue like you're going up to Graniteville at
26:08
Speaker 1: the playground. Don't hang the left, right, go straight, go
26:12
Speaker 1: straight like you're going towards Williamstown.
26:15
Speaker 3: Yeah.
26:15
Speaker 1: And I know there's a lot of quarries that are
26:17
Speaker 1: off to the left there, but this is to the right.
26:22
Speaker 2: This is to the right. Correct. It's sort of on
26:24
Speaker 2: the ridge of the land. And so when you're on
26:26
Speaker 2: this property, which is quite beautiful actually, you can see
26:30
Speaker 2: off to the quarry lagstones, and then you can also
26:34
Speaker 2: see off to the mountains on the other side, so
26:36
Speaker 2: it's it's kind of on a ridge there. It has
26:39
Speaker 2: a nice buffer of trees which we would be adding to.
26:44
Speaker 1: Now, aren't there some homes in there?
26:46
Speaker 2: There's a home on the property and then there's three
26:49
Speaker 2: access roads actually to the property, which is one of
26:51
Speaker 2: the benefits of it. It's also on you know power,
26:55
Speaker 2: there's town sewer. We're learning more about the Granneville Water
26:59
Speaker 2: District and hoping to get some responses back to some
27:02
Speaker 2: questions we have out to them. But it has all
27:05
Speaker 2: of the things we need, the three face power that
27:07
Speaker 2: we need. The But yes, there's going to be some
27:10
Speaker 2: houses that are also right next to the ingress and
27:14
Speaker 2: egress roads of that building.
27:17
Speaker 1: What would happen to those homes?
27:22
Speaker 2: Are these they would be able to stay there? These
27:24
Speaker 2: roads exist already.
27:25
Speaker 1: And what about the there's a log home. I think
27:29
Speaker 1: that's great.
27:30
Speaker 2: The log home is on the property and it's actually
27:33
Speaker 2: right where we're going to land our new building, so
27:36
Speaker 2: that will have to go.
27:37
Speaker 1: What are they saying the homeowners are they?
27:41
Speaker 2: They are excited. They brought this property from Rock of
27:46
Speaker 2: Ages back in the early nineties, I think, and built
27:49
Speaker 2: this Northeastern log home on It's beautiful. So hopefully we
27:53
Speaker 2: can find a way to repurpose that or someone can't.
27:56
Speaker 1: They're enthusiastically.
27:57
Speaker 2: They are enthusiastic about this. They said port the career
28:01
Speaker 2: center and what we want to do and decided that
28:04
Speaker 2: as much as they love their space and their home,
28:06
Speaker 2: that it might be time to downsize.
28:08
Speaker 1: Wow, let's go to the next frame here. That's the
28:13
Speaker 1: we're talking about the location plan.
28:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think basically this is kind of zooming down
28:18
Speaker 2: in kind of show you where is the location of
28:20
Speaker 2: this and the building is that sort of longer piece
28:25
Speaker 2: that's a little bit to the left there. But you
28:27
Speaker 2: can still see i think some of the granite quarries
28:30
Speaker 2: and rock of ages on this map and you can see, yeah,
28:33
Speaker 2: that's the location of the new building.
28:36
Speaker 3: Wow.
28:39
Speaker 2: So it keeps zooming in to show you that on
28:42
Speaker 2: that property. And we're using kind of the the more
28:46
Speaker 2: berry Town side of the property than the Williamstown side.
28:52
Speaker 1: Wow. Wait till yeah, go right ahead. I can't wait
28:56
Speaker 1: to show folks.
28:57
Speaker 2: So, so this building, this is a shift from the
28:59
Speaker 2: way you were looking at it before. So the north
29:01
Speaker 2: is to the right of the screen and south is
29:05
Speaker 2: to the left of the screen because it shifted the
29:07
Speaker 2: angle of this building. So you can see where you
29:09
Speaker 2: come in in those parking areas. There's a little bit
29:12
Speaker 2: of wetlands to the left and right in the entryway.
29:16
Speaker 2: So we've made a little stormwater pond that will help
29:19
Speaker 2: support that Agency of Natural Resources has already given their
29:23
Speaker 2: approval around that. We are still waiting for the Army
29:25
Speaker 2: Corps of Engineers to see if they have any feedback
29:27
Speaker 2: on this design. But basically, what you're going to see
29:30
Speaker 2: and what we're going to walk through is the concept
29:32
Speaker 2: design for the new building.
29:34
Speaker 1: All right, here we go, yeah, so.
29:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's where the parking lot we had shifted it.
29:40
Speaker 2: If you saw earlier designs about a year ago, the
29:43
Speaker 2: ingress and egress are still the same routes, but we
29:46
Speaker 2: shifted where the parking lot was for students and visitors.
29:49
Speaker 1: All right, look at this.
29:52
Speaker 2: One of the really cool things about this is that
29:55
Speaker 2: you're going to walk in. The main entrance allows access
29:57
Speaker 2: to our cosmetology studio and to baking in culinary arts,
30:02
Speaker 2: so those are the spaces where customers might be coming in,
30:05
Speaker 2: right really, and also on the end of the building
30:08
Speaker 2: you'll see when we get to the outside designs and
30:11
Speaker 2: the three D modeling, you'll see that there's a playground.
30:13
Speaker 2: We hope to bring back the human resources program and
30:16
Speaker 2: make sure that we're supporting childcare as well. That's been
30:19
Speaker 2: out of the center since before I got there, and
30:22
Speaker 2: we're hoping to definitely bring it back because there's certainly
30:24
Speaker 2: a need for childcare, and there will be as more
30:26
Speaker 2: of our students grow their families here.
30:29
Speaker 1: Sure, sure, I'm so wowed by this. This is the
30:33
Speaker 1: more on the entry level floor play in here. Yeah.
30:36
Speaker 2: So the property slopes a bit, and like I said,
30:40
Speaker 2: it's on our ridge. So the front of the building
30:42
Speaker 2: that you would see when you drive in has the
30:45
Speaker 2: lower level which would have the baking and culinary cosmatology,
30:49
Speaker 2: but also has all our health sciences, human services, and
30:52
Speaker 2: we're also hoping to add an animal science program. And
30:55
Speaker 2: then you'll walk in past those you see this huge
30:58
Speaker 2: atrium like and learning stare, which is also going to
31:02
Speaker 2: be the space where presentations can happen, where auditoriums can happen,
31:05
Speaker 2: and where students would either their lunch. It's our cafeteria
31:08
Speaker 2: as well, so it's a multipurpose space. And then as
31:12
Speaker 2: you go up the stairs in that center, if you
31:14
Speaker 2: go straight back, you'll find all the heavy trades, so
31:17
Speaker 2: the electrical, the plumbing, the welding, the building trades, the
31:21
Speaker 2: automotive potentially adding diesel, adding advanced manufacturing. Because there's certainly
31:26
Speaker 2: a need here. We're in a comprehensive local needs assessment
31:29
Speaker 2: this year, so that will help us to really identify
31:32
Speaker 2: what programming needs to be brought in that we're not
31:35
Speaker 2: meeting the needs of yet Wow, but we have some
31:38
Speaker 2: placeholders there for a few new programs and then hoping
31:40
Speaker 2: to duplicate those programs plumbing, building trades, electrical automotive that
31:48
Speaker 2: have so many applicants we could have more than one
31:50
Speaker 2: program because you may or may not know that, we're
31:52
Speaker 2: limited by the state on how many we can have
31:54
Speaker 2: in with an instructor. So in most of those where
31:57
Speaker 2: it's there's safety issues, it's sixteen student, which limits our capacity.
32:02
Speaker 2: If we add an adult, we can get twenty one.
32:04
Speaker 2: We could split and have two programs and have that
32:06
Speaker 2: many more students. And if we were able to have
32:09
Speaker 2: students for the full day and meet their other proficiencies,
32:13
Speaker 2: their academic proficiencies in another way, then we can use
32:16
Speaker 2: our spaces a little more flexibly. The other pieces on
32:20
Speaker 2: that top floor of the building are exploratory spaces. Right now,
32:24
Speaker 2: we have a tenth grade exploratory program where students explore
32:28
Speaker 2: every single program that we have and then they're well
32:31
Speaker 2: equipped to know where they want to go in the
32:33
Speaker 2: future and to apply for those, we're hoping to move
32:35
Speaker 2: that back down to the ninth grade level and then
32:38
Speaker 2: move into career pathway clusters of exploratory for health sciences,
32:42
Speaker 2: for example, and exploratory for construction trades, so they can
32:45
Speaker 2: knock off some of those early Tier one credentials and
32:49
Speaker 2: a few credits in that tenth grade year and then
32:51
Speaker 2: really dive in deep. As juniors and then seniors, they
32:55
Speaker 2: can continue diving and learning more, or they can go
32:58
Speaker 2: on out to co op and start working, or continue
33:01
Speaker 2: on too early college if that's your choice.
33:02
Speaker 1: Sometimes we you know, what do you want to be
33:05
Speaker 1: when you grow up? We don't. We don't know, And
33:08
Speaker 1: some things were like absolutely not. Once once we learn
33:13
Speaker 1: about it and maybe get our hands wet with it,
33:16
Speaker 1: we're like, oh, this is incredible. Yeah, we're surprised.
33:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sometimes we really think we know where we're going
33:22
Speaker 2: and then we find another way.
33:25
Speaker 1: God, I wish I had that when I was seriously
33:28
Speaker 1: middle middle school, especially seventh eighth grade.
33:32
Speaker 2: That's when students are really starting to think about that
33:34
Speaker 2: a lot, and I like, yeah, And that's why some
33:39
Speaker 2: of the new legislation is around how do we bring
33:41
Speaker 2: this exploration down to seventh and eighth graders. It doesn't
33:46
Speaker 2: it's not something we can do yet, but it's something
33:48
Speaker 2: that we can open some more doors.
33:49
Speaker 1: To my goodness. This is some of the ideas here
33:55
Speaker 1: on what we're looking at, what it might look like
33:59
Speaker 1: for the exterior level here, and then we're gonna take
34:03
Speaker 1: you indoors here in a second. And it's just not
34:05
Speaker 1: gonna believe it. It's it's like a full college campus.
34:10
Speaker 2: Well, it is a campus for sure. Truex Cullens and
34:13
Speaker 2: La Valley Brand Singer are both working with us. Tuex
34:16
Speaker 2: Cullens has a lot of school design experience in La
34:18
Speaker 2: Valley Brand Singer has done a lot of career and
34:20
Speaker 2: technical education high schools and colleges throughout New England, and
34:24
Speaker 2: so we have combined their experiences in this concept design.
34:27
Speaker 2: And this is the three D. So this is the entry.
34:30
Speaker 2: If you're driving in, so you're coming to see our
34:33
Speaker 2: new campus, you're driving right in and you're driving up
34:36
Speaker 2: to the end of the building. And what we know
34:38
Speaker 2: about Graniteville is that there's a thirty five foot I
34:40
Speaker 2: think it's foot limit to how high the building can be.
34:44
Speaker 2: So that's part of the reason we're working with the
34:45
Speaker 2: lay of the land as well. So you can see
34:48
Speaker 2: this front of the building. You can see there's a
34:49
Speaker 2: playground there that's for that human services program, and there's
34:52
Speaker 2: also lots of windows. We're looking at getting as much
34:55
Speaker 2: natural light into the space as possible. If you've been
34:58
Speaker 2: in our building now, there's not a lot of natural light,
35:01
Speaker 2: and that's something that everyone has said that would we
35:04
Speaker 2: would benefit from more of. We've looked at a couple
35:07
Speaker 2: of new builds, one out in Colorado, Cherry Creek Innovation
35:10
Speaker 2: Center and gotten some design ideas from them and from
35:14
Speaker 2: some of the others that we visited several cts in
35:17
Speaker 2: Maine that La Valley Brand Sanger had worked on and
35:20
Speaker 2: grab some ideas from those as well. So it's really
35:22
Speaker 2: cool to put those together all right.
35:25
Speaker 1: Again, this is the exterior, yep.
35:28
Speaker 2: And so you're looking now towards the main entrance to
35:30
Speaker 2: the building. Beautiful good that you would actually know it
35:35
Speaker 2: was our building too as you see that, Yes.
35:37
Speaker 1: You would, Yes, you would look at all that grantite
35:40
Speaker 1: on the front.
35:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're definitely wanting to have a heavy base. That's
35:45
Speaker 2: that's related to the industry around us, and so making
35:49
Speaker 2: sure there's a granite base there and then building up
35:51
Speaker 2: with something lighter and.
35:53
Speaker 1: There we're chatting with Jody Emerson, the director and superintendent
35:57
Speaker 1: of the Central Fromat Career Center this morning. This is
36:01
Speaker 1: the bond vote that's coming up November fourth. For what
36:04
Speaker 1: your eyes are seeing right now, this proposed new Central
36:10
Speaker 1: Vermont Career Center. Another exterior shot here.
36:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that if you drive around the building, which there
36:19
Speaker 2: would be a space all the way around to drive.
36:21
Speaker 2: Not everyone would have access to this because we would
36:24
Speaker 2: have students working outside in some of these spaces, and
36:26
Speaker 2: so you can see where the trucks will deliver to
36:30
Speaker 2: the loading dock. But you can also see the outside
36:32
Speaker 2: building space for the building trades, electrical and plumbing and heating,
36:36
Speaker 2: so that they could I think many of you may
36:39
Speaker 2: remember when we used to build double wides in our shop.
36:42
Speaker 1: Yep.
36:42
Speaker 2: We could then be doing that work again. Or if
36:45
Speaker 2: the governor sends us another mobile home to renovate, we
36:47
Speaker 2: can do it right outside there and then send it
36:49
Speaker 2: on its way. So we're excited about that.
36:53
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that our governors had a chance to have
36:57
Speaker 1: a peek at.
36:57
Speaker 2: This, I would hope. So you know, we've talked to him,
37:01
Speaker 2: we've sent him some things when he's been on campus,
37:04
Speaker 2: we've certainly talked about it. You're going inside now, so
37:07
Speaker 2: you've just walked through those main entry doors and you
37:09
Speaker 2: can see the Cosmotology sign I think on the side there. Yeah,
37:14
Speaker 2: so the salon will be right there, and then the
37:17
Speaker 2: culinary arts dining space, which we haven't had for a
37:19
Speaker 2: long time. When they move Baking Arts back on campus
37:23
Speaker 2: before I got to the Career Center, we lost our
37:26
Speaker 2: dining space for culinary arts, so we're excited to bring
37:29
Speaker 2: that back and think about how it could be used
37:31
Speaker 2: as a community space.
37:32
Speaker 1: Wow.
37:35
Speaker 2: And then you go into this atrium and I think
37:37
Speaker 2: we're on the top floor looking down at those or
37:39
Speaker 2: looking over at the learning stairs in this piece, and
37:44
Speaker 2: there is to your left there's the business in it
37:47
Speaker 2: that we hope to add, but also our digital media arts,
37:50
Speaker 2: graphic design, and videography are up there and they would
37:53
Speaker 2: have the ability to run anything that's in that centralized
37:58
Speaker 2: learning space where there's a big screen at the bottom
38:02
Speaker 2: so that things can be projected. We can't use a
38:05
Speaker 2: actually can't use a projector because of the natural light
38:07
Speaker 2: coming in from the skylight, but we'll have a big
38:09
Speaker 2: screen that they can use, they can use the lighting differently,
38:13
Speaker 2: and they can set up the sound system from that
38:16
Speaker 2: digital Media arts classroom.
38:17
Speaker 1: This is phenomenal.
38:21
Speaker 2: So that's turning around in that same space and looking
38:24
Speaker 2: down those stairs towards that big presentation screen. You can
38:27
Speaker 2: see there's an elevator next to the presentation screen. To
38:30
Speaker 2: the right. To the left is the hallway that would
38:33
Speaker 2: also take you out to the gym, because if we
38:36
Speaker 2: are going to have full day, we do need a
38:38
Speaker 2: space to do some of those other academic areas that
38:41
Speaker 2: we don't currently meet in our center.
38:45
Speaker 1: This would be such an injection of positivity into Central Vermont.
38:53
Speaker 1: I mean, I just can't even imagine not only the
38:57
Speaker 1: careers that are going to be born here, but also
39:01
Speaker 1: the job opportunities that in itself alone unreal.
39:07
Speaker 2: Well in this space is not you know, CTE is
39:09
Speaker 2: not just for high school students. We have adult programming
39:12
Speaker 2: as well, and so this gives us the opportunity to
39:15
Speaker 2: add more to that.
39:16
Speaker 1: Right look at this.
39:20
Speaker 2: One of the really cool things about the way that
39:22
Speaker 2: we've set it up, as we've set it up in
39:23
Speaker 2: kind of career pathway clusters and in the middle of
39:27
Speaker 2: the hallways between these classrooms and lab spaces. We have
39:31
Speaker 2: these areas for collaboration. We're called collaboration zones, so students
39:35
Speaker 2: across programs can meet together and work on real, real world,
39:38
Speaker 2: authentic problems together and work on solving them together. And
39:42
Speaker 2: so we're really excited about just the amount of collaboration
39:45
Speaker 2: that can happen between different programs as well.
39:48
Speaker 1: One hundred and sixty seven thousand square feet correct and
39:52
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty nine mil. That price tag was
39:58
Speaker 1: fair to say, lower than what you had guessed.
40:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you had gone to some of our forums
40:06
Speaker 2: that we did before we got this estimated cost from
40:09
Speaker 2: our project group, we were saying anywhere between one hundred
40:13
Speaker 2: and fifty million and two hundred million, because we didn't
40:16
Speaker 2: know and we were a little nervous that it was
40:18
Speaker 2: going to come out the top end and would the
40:19
Speaker 2: board still keep moving it forward if that was the case.
40:23
Speaker 2: And when it came out at one hundred and forty
40:25
Speaker 2: nine million, I think everyone breathed a little bit of
40:27
Speaker 2: a sigh relief. Yes, it's a lot of money, but
40:30
Speaker 2: it wasn't as much as we thought it was going
40:32
Speaker 2: to cost. And the opportunities that this gives our community
40:36
Speaker 2: is just amazing.
40:37
Speaker 1: Yeassive bontechs estimator notes here.
40:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I talked about that a little bit before.
40:46
Speaker 2: How did we make that estimation? And so we're taking
40:50
Speaker 2: again our six semester average of students from each sending
40:53
Speaker 2: school and then diving it out between the towns and
40:56
Speaker 2: those sending schools to try to figure out what is
40:59
Speaker 2: that one one year of the thirty years bond of payment,
41:03
Speaker 2: what is it going to cost taxpayers? Just to give
41:06
Speaker 2: someone a sense, And we use the three hundred thousand
41:09
Speaker 2: dollars home as the base value to say that. So
41:12
Speaker 2: if your home is less, then it's less. If your
41:14
Speaker 2: home is more, it's more. Right. My business manager, Michelle Lehman,
41:18
Speaker 2: worked closely with a guy who's on the Montpellier board
41:23
Speaker 2: but also at the tax department. His name is Jake.
41:26
Speaker 2: I don't remember his last name. I should, I should
41:28
Speaker 2: make sure I commit that to memory. But he worked
41:31
Speaker 2: with us and was like, giving us, this is the
41:34
Speaker 2: best way to do this, This is the most accurate
41:37
Speaker 2: way we can If we had to pay it back
41:39
Speaker 2: this year and we don't, we can't guess, like I
41:43
Speaker 2: said before, don't have that crystal ball, don't know what's
41:45
Speaker 2: going to change with our legislature and education moving forward,
41:50
Speaker 2: or how any of that's going to impact taxes.
41:54
Speaker 1: And what's going to happen with tariffs, which right that
41:58
Speaker 1: news is by the hour, So yeah, there's a lot
42:03
Speaker 1: of variables here. This is a fluid thing.
42:05
Speaker 2: But looks like that screen didn't work. Yeah, yeah, So
42:13
Speaker 2: these are just some of the assumptions that we put
42:15
Speaker 2: in and we did not did not do any planning
42:18
Speaker 2: for those folks that are, you know, income sensitivity. We
42:21
Speaker 2: didn't look into that at all. This is just a
42:24
Speaker 2: flat You own a three hundred thousand dollars home, and
42:27
Speaker 2: this is what the additional tax amount would be based
42:30
Speaker 2: on your CLA. I think there was one town that
42:32
Speaker 2: didn't have that information back yet because they'd just gotten assessed.
42:36
Speaker 2: So there's still that piece as well.
42:40
Speaker 1: I'm seeing here enrollment trends, and we've talked about that.
42:46
Speaker 1: I mean, the demand is really there. It's high.
42:51
Speaker 2: It's high, and if we double the number of students,
42:54
Speaker 2: it'll take a few years, but then the impacts across
42:57
Speaker 2: the region would be different as well. So if we
43:00
Speaker 2: have two hundred and twenty students last year, in two
43:03
Speaker 2: hundred and sixteen, this year and then we double that
43:06
Speaker 2: to four hundred and forty. That's a huge difference in
43:11
Speaker 2: how we assess those tuitions, right, But it also we
43:15
Speaker 2: can't leave out that that also impacts our sending schools,
43:18
Speaker 2: and it also means that we're going to need some
43:20
Speaker 2: more teachers to do some of those academic skills, and
43:24
Speaker 2: some of our sending schools will not need as many teachers.
43:26
Speaker 2: And so hopefully there's a way that we can we
43:29
Speaker 2: can shift those and they kind of even out in
43:33
Speaker 2: the end, like we'll take some of the teachers that
43:35
Speaker 2: maybe get cut from other SURE districts.
43:39
Speaker 1: The residual on this is massive and I think it
43:45
Speaker 1: will be for a long long time.
43:48
Speaker 2: Yeah.
43:48
Speaker 1: So the bond vote warning went out September eighth, that
43:53
Speaker 1: the bond vote will.
43:55
Speaker 2: Be the board approved it. We haven't put it in
43:57
Speaker 2: the paper yet because there's a very strict system for that.
44:01
Speaker 2: So on September twenty fifth is the earliest week can
44:03
Speaker 2: put that out, Okay, but you will see it and
44:06
Speaker 2: you'll see the full warning for that. It was a
44:09
Speaker 2: unanimous from my board. All ten members were there and
44:13
Speaker 2: approved this warning, which I think also says something and
44:17
Speaker 2: that I want to say a little bit about the
44:19
Speaker 2: makeup of our board. We have six members who are
44:21
Speaker 2: appointed from the sending districts, so that means they were
44:24
Speaker 2: elected to their sending our sending school district board, and
44:28
Speaker 2: they also are on our board because they've been appointed
44:30
Speaker 2: to it. And then we have four at large for
44:33
Speaker 2: our four largest districts. So we have a mont Pilier Rep.
44:35
Speaker 2: A Hardwood Rep, a Bury Rep. And a Washington Central Rep.
44:39
Speaker 2: That are voted in or appointed if no one ran
44:42
Speaker 2: for that position. So we have ten seats, and those
44:45
Speaker 2: larger districts have two voices.
44:49
Speaker 1: So this if in a perfect world, this thing, we
44:55
Speaker 1: could be rolling the ball here in twenty twenty seven.
45:00
Speaker 2: And opening our doors in the fall of twenty nine.
45:04
Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, that is unreal. There's no fool around here.
45:11
Speaker 1: I'm just just clancing building construction March of twenty twenty
45:18
Speaker 1: seven to May twenty twenty nine, and then opening up
45:22
Speaker 1: the building in September of twenty twenty nine.
45:25
Speaker 2: I can't wait. Kids want to get in now.
45:27
Speaker 1: Wow, this is so so exciting. What's next? What's next?
45:38
Speaker 2: We have law signs. Next is really just trying to
45:42
Speaker 2: make sure that people know what's going on. They're still
45:45
Speaker 2: you know, I have a whole timeline of this project
45:48
Speaker 2: actually began, its conception began in twenty eighteen when the
45:53
Speaker 2: Spalding Board asked CBCC to leave. It took me a
45:56
Speaker 2: while to find that information. I was told that a
45:59
Speaker 2: couple of times, but it's true, and there was a
46:02
Speaker 2: lot of work done before I arrived at the center
46:04
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one. And when I arrived, it was
46:08
Speaker 2: there was both this governance shift because remember we were
46:11
Speaker 2: part of the Barry Unified Union School District and there
46:14
Speaker 2: was this re envisioning, and I felt like the governance
46:17
Speaker 2: needed to be first, so that all eighteen towns had
46:19
Speaker 2: a voice in this re envisioning of CBCC and building
46:24
Speaker 2: a new center. And so that's what we did. So
46:26
Speaker 2: it kind of paused this project for a little bit.
46:28
Speaker 2: We picked it back up, I think in twenty three
46:32
Speaker 2: and we've been kind of carrying it forward into this
46:35
Speaker 2: concept design and we did the site selection, learned a
46:39
Speaker 2: lot and traveled through a lot of different properties, lots
46:44
Speaker 2: of woods and fields.
46:46
Speaker 3: And.
46:47
Speaker 2: Called a lot of people and you know, just cold
46:50
Speaker 2: called them and said, hey, I'm looking for property for
46:53
Speaker 2: the new Central vermontn career center, would you be interested
46:56
Speaker 2: in talking to us about selling your land? And you know,
46:58
Speaker 2: heard a lot of notes and went from the A
47:00
Speaker 2: list to the B list and on down the line,
47:03
Speaker 2: and we found this space that is going to be
47:06
Speaker 2: beautiful and is not really a whole lot further from
47:10
Speaker 2: any of our sending schools than our students have to
47:12
Speaker 2: travel right now.
47:15
Speaker 1: Tell me about this community forum that's coming up.
47:20
Speaker 2: So we had several community forums around our different sending
47:23
Speaker 2: schools in the spring to try to bring awareness to
47:26
Speaker 2: this project. This one on October seventh is very similar
47:30
Speaker 2: to when we have a budget vote in the spring,
47:33
Speaker 2: and we always do a forum in front of that
47:35
Speaker 2: budget vote. This is a forum for the bond vote,
47:37
Speaker 2: so that we are sharing this information again that you've
47:41
Speaker 2: shared on the screen today, but also fielding any questions
47:45
Speaker 2: that people have if we can, and just letting people
47:49
Speaker 2: know it's one more opportunity to talk about why we're
47:52
Speaker 2: moving this forward and why we're asking people to get
47:55
Speaker 2: out there and vote, and you know.
47:58
Speaker 1: Just the EM program alone. Joe Waldsworth's has been in
48:04
Speaker 1: touch with me, district chair of the from EMS District six.
48:11
Speaker 1: What a super guy. Yeah, someone who is so passionate about.
48:16
Speaker 2: This absolutely, and we're so excited. There's a big announcement
48:21
Speaker 2: coming up. We're working with them district Date and we
48:25
Speaker 2: if you knew in the past, we had EMS two
48:29
Speaker 2: program for a while with students getting their paramedic or
48:33
Speaker 2: a really good start on their paramedic license through VTSU
48:37
Speaker 2: and we have a new partnership with UVM Medical Center
48:41
Speaker 2: moving forward, and so we're yeah, So we're going to
48:44
Speaker 2: be signing off on that the twenty fourth at two pm.
48:48
Speaker 2: So hope to see you there and we'll be releasing
48:51
Speaker 2: that information this coming Wednesday in a press release.
48:53
Speaker 1: All Right, I would love to be there, Chris. This
48:57
Speaker 1: is such a big deal and something that is so
49:01
Speaker 1: so needed.
49:02
Speaker 2: Really, Lily, I can tell you without doubt that every
49:07
Speaker 2: student that's gone through our Emergency Services program and gotten
49:10
Speaker 2: their AMPT and then started down that path of paramedic,
49:13
Speaker 2: I would I would not be scared if I need
49:17
Speaker 2: I woke up and they were the person assisting me,
49:19
Speaker 2: I would be so grateful.
49:21
Speaker 1: Just life skills that go with that. Joe and I
49:25
Speaker 1: have talked about this before, just the basic life skills
49:30
Speaker 1: of being calm and level headed and grace under pressure
49:37
Speaker 1: or remarkable. I was not like that. I couldn't do it,
49:42
Speaker 1: still can't. But I mean these kids they're amazing. They're amazing,
49:49
Speaker 1: and the level of maturity is remarkable. I was nothing
49:57
Speaker 1: like that when I was fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. I
50:01
Speaker 1: could keep going, just not like that. Wasn't geared like that.
50:05
Speaker 1: I mean, these kids are taking their lives so seriously.
50:11
Speaker 2: Everyone has so much potential, right, we all do, and
50:14
Speaker 2: our students especially, they have so much ahead of them.
50:16
Speaker 2: We hope, and they when they find their passion, they
50:20
Speaker 2: are just phenomenal. It's so great to see them light
50:23
Speaker 2: up and they.
50:24
Speaker 1: Just latch on. But having a real having these resources
50:32
Speaker 1: right there available to them, a new building, a staff
50:39
Speaker 1: that embodies and shares their passion and wants to teach,
50:46
Speaker 1: wants our future to learn. These are all key things. Man,
50:51
Speaker 1: These are the most important ingredients. You've got to have it.
50:55
Speaker 1: It is essential.
50:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so exciting to see. I mean, across our programs,
51:00
Speaker 2: our instructors are industry professionals. They come from industry. They
51:05
Speaker 2: don't come from the college teaching background the majority of them.
51:09
Speaker 2: I mean a few do, obviously, but not everybody. And
51:11
Speaker 2: the most of them, they're coming in and a lot
51:13
Speaker 2: of them are still working in the field. They're still
51:16
Speaker 2: cutting hair on the side, if they're in cosmetology or
51:20
Speaker 2: our ems to instructor Carl Madison, he is still every
51:24
Speaker 2: weekend out there anytime. I don't know when that man sleeps,
51:28
Speaker 2: because he is either teaching our students or he's out
51:31
Speaker 2: there saving lives and being a part of the cruise.
51:34
Speaker 2: I think about Brandon Morris, our electrical teacher, who is
51:37
Speaker 2: a student graduate of CBCC, and he's got his own
51:41
Speaker 2: business on the side that he's doing like nights, weekends
51:44
Speaker 2: and summers. Like, they're all still in these trades and
51:50
Speaker 2: they're still doing the work, and they're bringing everything that
51:52
Speaker 2: they learn every day and everything that shifts in that
51:55
Speaker 2: back to the classroom to their students.
51:58
Speaker 1: Real true hands on I hope these kids realize how
52:06
Speaker 1: blessed they are to be able to have these opportunities
52:11
Speaker 1: that so many of us just didn't in the seventies
52:15
Speaker 1: and eighties. And this is the new world man, and
52:19
Speaker 1: technology is at the forefront. We've got to learn these skills,
52:23
Speaker 1: We've got to This is our future right here, and
52:26
Speaker 1: it's not just here in America. But it's right here
52:29
Speaker 1: in Vermont, right here in central Vermont, and this is
52:34
Speaker 1: a pivotal moment. This is an opportunity that I hope
52:39
Speaker 1: for Honors embrace and take advantage of.
52:43
Speaker 2: Our kids. Definitely know I remind them on that welcome
52:46
Speaker 2: Assembly day that you know they could look to either
52:50
Speaker 2: side and know that this class could be double, the
52:53
Speaker 2: group of students could be double. In the auditorium, that
52:56
Speaker 2: them many students aren't there that wanted to be there,
52:58
Speaker 2: that they have that seat when somebody else really wanted it,
53:01
Speaker 2: and they take that seriously. They know that it means
53:05
Speaker 2: a lot for them to be at our center, and
53:07
Speaker 2: they run with it.
53:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, you had such a great point earlier about just
53:13
Speaker 1: the cost of going to college. It's amazing. Yeah, it's amazing.
53:20
Speaker 2: But if you have these skills and you still want
53:22
Speaker 2: to go to college because you don't have to close
53:23
Speaker 2: that door, of course you can work and pay for
53:26
Speaker 2: it and not have that huge burden of debt, well
53:30
Speaker 2: you can get those scholarships.
53:32
Speaker 1: I can't wait to get some members of your av
53:37
Speaker 1: department in here and get them on the air. I
53:39
Speaker 1: can't wait to have Carlos on the air. I mean,
53:41
Speaker 1: that guy is unbelievable.
53:44
Speaker 2: He's going to be doing some of our promotional videos
53:46
Speaker 2: as well, and it's really exciting. We've gotten a couple
53:49
Speaker 2: of interviews and started, but we really want we want
53:52
Speaker 2: people to tell their story because our students they have
53:56
Speaker 2: amazing stories, yes they do, and our alumni have amazing stories,
53:59
Speaker 2: and we're excited for any alumni who are willing to
54:02
Speaker 2: be interviewed on camera. We're going to use those in
54:05
Speaker 2: social media posts and hopefully on some TV stations too,
54:09
Speaker 2: and just share what people get out of it. It's phenomenal.
54:13
Speaker 2: And to have that resource on campus. Yeah, and to
54:17
Speaker 2: have some of our former students who can come back
54:19
Speaker 2: and help us with that. Yes, a couple of our
54:21
Speaker 2: alumni from the videography program have been doing supporting us
54:25
Speaker 2: with some of the different pieces that that class does,
54:28
Speaker 2: and it's so great they're going to come in and
54:30
Speaker 2: help us out with that and also be interviewed in that.
54:34
Speaker 2: It's such a great I love that we're doing this.
54:38
Speaker 2: Even if we regardless of what happens in November, we
54:42
Speaker 2: will have a treasure trove of stories that talk about
54:46
Speaker 2: how much this meant for students.
54:48
Speaker 1: Yeah you will, Yeah, you will listen, get back in
54:52
Speaker 1: here soon, okay, please. I really enjoy chatting with you
54:57
Speaker 1: and the so much positivity here. This is a great
55:03
Speaker 1: way to start out the day and the week, and
55:06
Speaker 1: I appreciate you and your time so much. Jody.
55:09
Speaker 2: I'm so grateful that you invited me in and I
55:12
Speaker 2: will come back whenever you want.
55:13
Speaker 1: What where do people go if they want to learn more?
55:16
Speaker 1: What's what's the what's the point here?
55:18
Speaker 2: So our website CBTCC dot org there's a backslash future
55:24
Speaker 2: will take you right to our new design and all
55:27
Speaker 2: the information about that. It includes a frequently asked questions
55:31
Speaker 2: page that we're adding to all the time because I'm
55:33
Speaker 2: getting questions all the time, sure you are. There's also
55:37
Speaker 2: attached to that a long list of links that are
55:41
Speaker 2: kind of like a timeline of how long has this
55:43
Speaker 2: project been going on and what have we done and
55:46
Speaker 2: who's been involved in it? So there's that connected to it.
55:50
Speaker 2: We have again, we have lawn signs, so if you
55:52
Speaker 2: would like some, reach out to me. I can get
55:54
Speaker 2: some to you. We just need to keep track of
55:56
Speaker 2: where they go so that we can collect them back.
55:59
Speaker 2: We're going to have some broch and next week our
56:01
Speaker 2: postcard is going out with more information to all the
56:04
Speaker 2: residents across our eighteen towns, so be on the lookout
56:07
Speaker 2: for that. It should have a QR code that'll also
56:09
Speaker 2: take you to our website.
56:10
Speaker 1: Awesome, grab me one of those long signs for the window. Yeah, thanks, Jody,
56:17
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming again.
56:18
Speaker 2: So thank you.
56:19
Speaker 3: Jad B Do do do Do Do Do
58:15
Speaker 1: Do Do Do do