Academic subjects eliminated at WACTC
When Carol Roman learned in March her job at Western Area Career and Technology Center in Chartiers Township was in jeopardy, she started writing letters to former students and parents asking for help. Several responded, urging a joint operating commission representing nine Washington County school districts to think twice about eliminating WACTC’s academic programs in math, English, social studies and physics.
But on Wednesday, the board voted almost unanimously to stop sending students to the vo-tech center’s academic programs, which forced WACTC administrators to lay off two teachers, while allowing a third to retire at the end of the school year. A representative from Avella Area School District who voted against eliminating the math program was the only dissenting vote, according to WACTC executive director Dennis McCarthy.
“We’re always sad to see employees leave our building, but our numbers are dictated by the superintendents, and if they’re not going to send students to those classes, there’s not too much we can do,” McCarthy said. “Our hands are tied.”
Fred Rockage, president of the joint commission and a school director for Chartiers-Houston, said superintendents of the nine schools considered a few factors before reaching a decision. He said school officials felt it was inefficient for students to leave their vocational classes in order to attend academic classes they could be taking at their home schools.
“What the superintendents told us was, one, they wanted a little bit more control of the academics because of Keystone exams,” Rockage said. “Second, it would give the students an opportunity to spend more time learning the trade rather than being in academics at the Career and Technology Center.”
Rockage said five students from Chartiers-Houston attend academic classes at WACTC, but other school districts have higher enrollment numbers. WACTC provides an education to about 500 students from Canon-McMillan, Washington, Avella, Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, McGuffey, Peters Township and Trinity school districts.
Roman, who has taught at the school for 14 years, said she and her colleagues compiled data and attempted to show the academic programs were successful, but that information “seemed to fall on deaf ears,” she said. She said the majority of students who took academic classes also passed their career and technical standardized tests.
In response to her solicitation for support, Roman received a letter from an alumnus who now works as a lab manager at Harvard Medical School. He credited the academic support at WACTC for much of his success.
“We really have catered to the students that come here and gave them that opportunity, and the parents are upset because this was an option that’s being ripped out from underneath them,” she said.
Ron McCloskey of South Franklin Township has taught physics at the school for eight years after leaving his job as a professor and researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. He said he wasn’t planning on retiring for another few years, but he has no choice now.
McCloskey said the decision to eliminate academics was “wrong on so many levels” and will hurt students in the long run.
“It was, bottom line, to save money, not to improve the quality of education and increase the success of the students,” he said.
He said there are many reasons why students may choose to attend an academic class at WACTC instead of their home schools, including smaller class sizes with one-on-one instruction and lessons that cater to the vocations that students are pursuing.
“We understand these youngsters are here because they want to learn a vocation, and they learn information differently than the youngsters who are preparing for their number one objective to go to college,” he said. “They learn differently, so we know that and we accommodate that different learning style.”
David Dachon, who has taught English and social studies at WACTC for two years, also will be laid off at the end of the school year. He could not be reached for comment.
Teachers will continue receiving pay until August. McCarthy said he doesn’t expect any major effects on enrollment or incoming students in the fall.