Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/91307
Sarasota News Leader needed to hire skilled pro- duction workers — " a huge percentage," according to Stephanie Kempton of Kemp- ton Research, who had un- dertaken the survey for Ca- reerEdge. "We're looking forward to continued collaboration with local employers, agencies and governments to close the skills gap in local manu- facturing," Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Lori White told the News Leader. "We offer engineering and manufacturing-related career and technical education pro- grams at seven of our middle schools and at all five comprehensive high schools. More than 2,700 students are current- ly enrolled in these programs." November 2, 2012 Page 39 and county economic devel- opment staff, among others, and bring back a plan of ac- tion within 90 days. Robinson told the News Leader in an Oct. 16 inter- view that workforce pre- paredness was one of the critical issues the county needed to address over the next several years. Her feel- ing after that Aug. 29 discus- sion, she said, was "Let's get this going." Sarasota County Schools Super- intendent Lori White/File photo She wanted the various groups to collaborate, she added, to work towards a common goal on the same path, "as opposed to trying to get there in our own individual ways." She added, "Some will use these skills in post-secondary education, but we realize that not every student is bound for a four-year college experience. Our administrators and teachers constantly are finding new ways to raise awareness and spark interest in manu- facturing as a career option students can ex- plore." After discussing the manufacturers' survey results during the Aug. 29 meeting, County Commission Chairwoman Christine Robin- son, visibly frustrated when no other member of her board took action, passed the gavel to Vice Chairwoman Carolyn Mason to make a motion calling for County Administrator Ran- dall Reid to meet with the appropriate repre- sentatives of the School Board, CareerEdge THE COMMITTEE'S UNDERTAKING When Commissioner Joe Barbetta objected to the 90-day time frame for completing the committee report, Reid said he might be able to facilitate committee action to report back in 60 days. As it turned out, that 60 days was compressed into about two weeks, Mireya C. Eavey, exec- utive director of CareerEdge, told the News Leader. That was a result of trying to work around the schedules of those selected to serve on the committee, she added. "I am very impressed with how everybody stepped up, and we actually had a group of people working and not talking. … It was more actions and strategies," she said. "It was intense."