One of three skill center satellite programs within the Sequim School District is on the chopping board.
The end of the academic year may be the end of the North Olympic Peninsula Skill Center’s Natural Resources program that engages students from Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks and LaPush.
“The Natural Resources program gives students opportunities to define themselves from a young age as engaged, productive citizens,” Daniel Lieberman, Natural Resources program teacher, said.
“Through the Natural Resources classes, students earn credit and obtain skills, schools gain additional options that fit diverse learners and community organizations connect with and train potential future employees as these youth participate in environmental projects,” he said.
Decision to discontinue
Although the Skill Center’s Administrative Council comprised of superintendents from Quillayute Valley, Cape Flattery, Crescent, Port Angeles and Sequim recognize the value of the program, Diana Reaume, Quillayute Valley School District superintendent and council chairman, explained the council has recommended the program be discontinued.
“We started talking about this in early October,” she said.
The program is structured as an “Alternative Learning Experience” given much of the students’ time is spent outside the traditional classroom setting; thus despite being a state-approved Career and Technical Education (CTE) class, it doesn’t qualify for CTE-approved funding.
Because of the funding formula for Alternative Learning Experience CTE classes, it brings in less money than non-Alternative Learning Experience CTE classes, Lieberman said, but argues “the slightly reduced ALE funding rate is compensated by the program having more students enrolled.”
Since the program’s beginning in 2008 it has grown yearly, Lieberman said.
“Natural Resources was originally a single class serving small groups of students from Forks and then Port Angeles,” he said. “Over the years, it has grown into a program including educational pathways for students from across the North Olympic Peninsula.”
This year, including 15 Sequim students, the program has experienced its greatest enrollment with 100 students participating from various school districts, according to Lieberman.
However, the program’s enrollment still isn’t enough to be financially sustainable since students aren’t enrolling for the full 540 hours required by state law, Peggy Templeton, North Olympic Peninsula Skill Center director, said.
Historically, via the Natural Resources program’s “Options” component, it allowed students to participate for less than 540 hours. Once Lieberman was informed by state officials with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that all students must meet the 540-hour requirement to comply for future funding, he suggested this modification to the program, he said. Yet those modification have yet to be made.
“Yes, it is possible (to modify), but students aren’t choosing that option,” Templeton said.
Regardless of Templeton’s hesitation to modify the program, Kim Sager-Fradkin, chairman for the Natural Resources program’s advisory board and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s wildlife biologist, said she has watched the enrollment continue to grow for both the “Options” and “Internships” programs offered through the Natural Resources program.
“I think the interest is definitely there,” she said.
Connecting organizations
In addition to the financial concerns, Templeton said officials with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction also are weary of the amount of time students spend with personnel from community organizations instead of directly with Lieberman.
Personnel with community organizations may create activities, Lieberman said, but he sees no conflict given he provides direct instruction to all students.
“The students get to interface with professionals within the community, but there’s also a lot of engagement with Dan (Lieberman),” Sager-Fradkin said. “Bottom line is, the students are getting a lot out of this program.”
Lieberman sees the students’ interaction with the various community organizations and even potential employers as an important part of the program.
“After working side-by-side with adult mentors and planning, implementing and reporting on projects that are valuable to the professional community, students feel empowered to continue learning and work for positive change,” Lieberman said.
One of the community organization working closely with the Natural Resources’s satellite programs in Sequim is the North Olympic Salmon Coalition.
“Our Sequim Natural Resource class is the most successful education program that we offer and a model for expanding our work throughout the region,” Reed Aubin, NOSC program manager for education, outreach and volunteers, said. “Mr. Lieberman’s work has mobilized a wide variety of experts throughout our region to consistently connect with students.”
“I hope that administrators are able to find a way to continue this program, as it leverages significant community resources to enhance educational opportunities in our public schools,” he said.
Sequim students enrolled in the Natural Resources Options program are involved in different projects, Lieberman explained. The students working with NOSC are doing noxious weed removal, native plant restoration and other salmon habitat enhancement projects.
Another group at the Dungeness River Audubon Center are building, installing and monitoring bird nesting boxes, planting native shrubs and collecting data on the conditions of Railroad Bridge Park. Lastly, students at Dungeness Spit are conducting monthly surveys on marine debris, beached birds and other environmental conditions.
Sequim students enrolled with the program’s “Internship” component are involved with officials with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Puget Sound Partnership’s Citizen Action Training School, WSU Extension and Feiro Marine Life Center.
What’s next
If the Skill Center’s Natural Resources program is cancelled following the end of the school year, already Reaume and Sequim School District’s superintendent Kelly Shea, know they would like to explore ways to continue a similar program in each of their districts.
“The Natural Resources program in its current format needs to be restructured,” Shea said. “If it’s canceled, the question is how can we create something equivalent?”
For college students, Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment offers local programs through its extension at Peninsula Community College, but Lieberman said, for high school students involved with Nature Bridge’s summer field science programs, without the Natural Resources program the credit arrangement will go away.
“If the program is discontinued, students will lose opportunities to earn credit and learn outside the traditional classroom, schools will lose another option for diverse learners to be successful and community organizations will lose a partner that helps to inspire and train future employees and citizens,” Lieberman said.
Maintaining an optimistic view and in hopes of keeping the program viable, Lieberman plans to include preparatory classes and internships that lead to natural resource jobs and post-secondary education for students in all five North Olympic Peninsula Skill Center’s consortium districts.
“The plan is to provide opportunities for Crescent School District within a year or two, and following that, Cape Flattery School District,” he said. “As has happened over the years, the program will continue diversifying the opportunities offered to students and being flexible to allow for adaptation to potential changes in state regulations.”
The North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center Administrative Council meets next at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 14, at the NOPSC, 905 W. Ninth St., Port Angeles. Because the council members discuss private information, however, Templeton suggested any questions or concerns relating to the Natural Resources program be directed toward a representing superintendent. Reach the Sequim School District Superintendent’s office at 582-3260.
Natural Resources program
Mission: “Provide students with hands-on, relevant natural and cultural resources knowledge, skills and experience that meets the needs of individual students and North Olympic Peninsula communities.”
Phone: 565-1533
Web: www.nopsc.org/natural-resources/
Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.
