Its name may have changed, but inescapable problems with the Glacier Applied Learning Center remain. Formerly known as the “Applied Technology Learning Center,” the idea for the center has been fleshed out and is now being returned to voters. It was rejected once, but supporters of the center seem to believe the public may have since been enlightened, and may now vote for this dubious proposal. One of the problems left unresolved is the question of money. The $5.6 million that the levy would raise would only provide the building required for the tech center. What will be done to cover the rest of the expenses of the center? Day-to-day operating costs and staff will have to come from existing resources. This means that Flathead High School would lose money it gets now so the new learning center could pay for utilities and new technology. According to School District Five’s Director of Business Services, Todd Watkins, Flathead High School would pay about $800,000 per year based on early enrollment projections. That money has not yet been “identified,” meaning the District still does not know where all of it will come from. The relocation of some staff to the tech center would account for some of the cost, but other money would be redistributed from the high school’s $10 million yearly budget. Experts say that the average American can expect to change careers five to eight times in his or her lifetime. Restricting students to the few careers that they are exposed to at the Learning Center would limit their choices later in life. Classes such as history, art, and music would be taught at the regular high school. Classes only offered once per day at the regular high school might conflict with classes at the learning center. Hordes of angry students could be kept from taking the classes they feel they need. According to School District Five Superintendent Alan Hafer, the learning center is designed to inspire kids who don’t learn as well in a traditional learning environment. In a letter mailed to voters, supporters of the center say that students, after leaving the learning center, will be “ready to enter the world of work in careers ranging from health care to construction skills, to agriculture, to business.” The sole point of high school, however, isn’t to prepare a person for a single career or to give him or her skills like cooking or auto maintenance. High school needs to give students a sense of history, an appreciation for art, and a taste of literature. The applied learning center would try to prepare students for a limited type of career at the expense of creating adults who might never be exposed to some of the most important parts of life. The classes at the center are only offered to high school juniors and seniors. Because many students who drop out do so when they turn 16 (usually before they are juniors), how would the center keep kids in school? Do the center’s supporters honestly believe that a student who wants to drop out will decide to stay in school for an extra year to learn about auto mechanics? Despite what the supporters of the center would have you believe, the Glacier Applied Learning Center isn’t going to guarantee a successful life to students, and it certainly isn’t going to keep kids from dropping out. |
