How might local schools get students better involved in community activities and opportunities so they will see the value in what Brown County has to offer?

How can vocational education be expanded to better prepare students for the workforce, as well as bolster the local economy and businesses?

How might the community promote the development of infrastructure?

Those are just some of the questions that the Brown County Schools district readiness team is working to answer.

In May, Brown County Schools will submit a proposal to the Regional Opportunities Initiative in hopes of landing a $500,000, four-year grant. That money will help to start a course of action to “prepare and connect” students’ strengths and talents with the workforce.

Possible strategies will be presented at a meeting of the education and workforce advisory team at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 3 in the Goldberg Room at Brown County High School.

“We will be coming into one strategy that will encompass all of these together. That will end up being our proposal to ROI in May,” said ROI coordinator Christy Wrightsman.

Hopes, fears, frustrations

Wrightsman and teams of community members and educators conducted 115 interviews with more than 130 local people to understand possible issues they need to address with an ROI grant.

School administrators; community members, including parents of students and others not associated with the school; school personnel; and students and teachers were all interviewed.

They were asked about their satisfactions, frustrations, hopes and wishes.

“When you dig down deep, there are those three main themes that run throughout our county, whether it be in schools or the community,” Wrightsman said. Those themes were quality of life, education and resources/soft skills.

Teachers expressed frustration about economic opportunities for families and students, like a lack of affordable housing and childcare, and that families aren’t able to break the cycle of poverty.

They also talked about a lack of educational pathways, including the school district eliminating programs such as building trades. Teachers also said they feel like students are not learning and applying employable skills, or soft skills; and that a “college for all” mentality is still prevalent in the district.

Teachers said they were satisfied with STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — programming in the schools; the resources in the community to support people; and that they were a part of a close-knit, artisan community.

Students who were interviewed expressed fear about life after high school. They didn’t know if they would be able to get a job and didn’t know what careers exist or what classes to take to prepare them. They were also fearful about life outside of Brown County.

They also expressed a lack of hope because they believe there are no jobs in the county for them. They said they believe larger schools offer more opportunities, but they feel they aren’t prepared for college life.

Those students also said they don’t have enough academic help in the district and that they’re afraid to ask for help.

But they also expressed satisfactions, such as having a small, loving community and school. Some students said they had hope for the future because their families had success as a result of a Brown County education. Students were also satisfied with engaged coursework, like hands-on learning in art, music and construction.

Students asked for more career exposure, vocational opportunities, counseling/guidance and personal success skills, like resume writing and building.

For frustrations, administrators mentioned a lack of internet infrastructure and affordable housing, and county ordinances that “restrict growth and development.”

They also noted that students lack communication skills and life skills, and that they are frustrated with not being able to communicate with some parents.

The administrators were satisfied with the community as far as it being a “beautiful, natural environment” with a “small, hometown, family feel” and resources.

Their hopes included more affordable housing, economic growth, more career exposure for students and soft skills training.

Community members interviewed expressed frustrations about affordable housing, poverty, child care, local politics, teacher-parent communication and workforce development.

Satisfactions included community involvement, like the Weekend Backpacks program, the community culture of being friendly and welcoming, and opportunities like the Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center. They also noted they were satisfied with the size of schools and low crime rates.

School staff who were interviewed also had frustrations with affordable housing, poverty and internet availability, as well as employment-related concerns, like addiction and work ethic.

Their hopes include more vocational education and technical training for students. They said they were satisfied with the “quality of place,” including the positivity and natural resources in the county, and education resources, like the Brown County Career Resource Center.

Interview subjects also mentioned wanting to establish better connections within the community so that people can get more involved and students can know what is available in the region.

Sharing data

Wrightsman shared the results of the interviews with the Brown County education and workforce advisory team in February. They worked together to come up with the ‘How might we …’ questions to address the hopes, satisfactions and frustrations.

“There wasn’t anything that was shocking to me, but I think the interviews did lend itself to really hearing the passion that people have around these themes,” Wrightsman said.

“It also has brought about for me the understanding that we are, as a community, collaborating in ways that are just really inspiring right now.”

One example is the Hometown Collaboration Initiative. Wrightsman and other school community members attended the HCI forum March 7.

The HCI is another mostly grant-funded process which was started by the Brown County Redevelopment Commission; its mission is to get the community on the same page for an eventual “community development” project related to the local economy, leadership development, or recreation or quality of life.

“It’s just great timing for collaborative efforts across Brown County to unite the information that we happen to have, via our surveys and interviews that are being done through ROI and HCI,” Wrightsman said.

Wrightsman encourages any local group to reach out to her at [email protected] if they want her to present the ROI interview data to them. She also will visit the schools to present the results to staff in each building.

“The biggest part of it is we just feel like we have some really great information and data to share so that we can continue these conversations, this communication and collaboration across the county,” she said.

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ON THE WEB:

To read all of the data collected in 115 interviews with more than 130 students, teachers, administrators, community members and school staff, visit bcdemocrat.com.

To learn more about the Regional Opportunities Initiative Inc.’s Ready Schools Initiative in Brown County Schools, visit the school’s website at browncountyschools.com and find the ROI link under the “community” tab. Documents also will be uploaded here.

ABOUT THE TEAM:

The education and workforce advisory team is a communitywide group that advises Brown County Schools district readiness coordinator Christy Wrightsman and her project design team. Anyone who wishes to be added to the team’s email list or wants to have Wrightsman present the data to a group can email [email protected]. The next group meeting will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 3 in the Goldberg Room at Brown County High School.

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