
Welcome/Introductions—John Will welcomed the group. DPI survey information shows
that only 1 in 10 high school students are planning to attend WITC. The Skills Gap issue is
gaining public awareness. We plan to continue to grow our partnerships with K-12, however
related to dual credit agreements, HLC (The Higher Learning Commission—WITC’s
accrediting body) has new certification parameters for high school teachers that may
complicate things. (Teachers would need 4,000 of occupational specific training to teach
transcripted credit courses.) More information to come on this.
Introductions all around the table—thank you all for coming today!
Overview of grant activities and updates from summer/fall:
Career Prep is part of Perkins reserve funds. Three consortium meetings each year fulfill the
grant guidelines—face-to-face in October and April and via ITV in February.

Educator Externs—Nancy Graese gave an overview of externships (K-12 & WITC
educators are invited to spend a week with business & industry). Fourteen educators
participated in summer 2014. Stipends are awarded upon completion of program. Note:
CharterNEX Films would host an extern at their business next summer.
CVTC participants will be paid from their share of Career Prep funds.
The extern participants are always excited both about what they have learned and then in turn
what they can share in their classrooms with students. Many partnerships are developed
between the educators and businesses in their communities.
Jared Eichten talked about his externship. He spent time with a plumber. Knowledge used
came from physics, chemistry, math—especially measurement and geometry, communication,
problem solving and critical thinking. Brazing silver was a special learning experience. Other
skills applied in a practical way--Written bids, track expenses, ability to communicate and get
along with people. Measurement is a very a huge skill needed. One classroom application will
be to put together pvc piping for a ladder ball game that students can take home.
Additional conversation: ACT 59 (CTE Incentive grant): Schools can apply for funds related to
industry-recognized certifications that graduates have completed in high school. Applications
are due on October 31st. Schools will receive up to $1,000 for every student that earns a
certificate, such as WI YA or coop. A list of approved certifications is available on the DPI
Website. Included are industry recognized certificates such as--CISCO, Certified NA, Assistant
Child Care, MS Office. The school must keep the certificate on file. This is the first year of the
program so DPI is looking closely at data collection.
 Counselor Externs—Barb reported that summer 2014 externs were: Nancy Larson,
Bayfield HS-Ashland campus and Jodi Zimmer, Flambeau High School—Rice Lake campus.
Dede relayed that Scott Leonard spent three days of meaningful time with Nancy at the Ashland
campus. New student interview; went through admission process; met the student services
staff, learning all about what a new student needs to know. Learned about programs from
Academic deans. We ask for feedback on our WITC web site through a web exercise. Nancy
will be better able to communicate with Bayfield students about WITC.
 Counselor Externs, continued—
Jodi is new to the counselor role at Flambeau. Jodi spent time at the Rice Lake campus
participating in the same learning opportunities that Nancy did at Ashland. Jodi also spent time
with Barb Landstrom at the Shell Lake office.
 FTF Preconference 2014 was held on Monday, June 23, 2014.
“Schools, & Businesses Partnering for a Better Future” – 63 attendees
Dan Conroy was the keynote. Employer panel shared best practices. Bob Meyer WITC
President presented the Technical College Solution, and Steven Baue from Marinette Marine
did an excellent job of closing the day. County-wide business and education groups met to
discuss organizing advisory boards to figure out how educators and employers can work
together better.
As a follow-up, a pilot group, Barron County manufacturers and the sevencounty high school
Advisory group will meet on November 4th at WITC-RL for a breakfast meeting.
 Facilitating the Future 2014 June 24-27, A summer Professional Development workshop
sponsored by WITC, CESAs 11 & 12. Attendees--17 from WITC; 35 from school districts, 52
total.
The Learning Communities and facilitators included:
Building Bridges—Christy Roshell and Tom Klatt
Celebrating Diversity in Education—Melissa Moe and Matt Dietsche
On Course, “Success Strategies”—Ramona Lockwood
Counselors, WCSC – Gary Spear
Photo Editing, Moodle—Julie Thompson
Keyboarding—Eau Claire school district instructor
Nancy reviewed the survey of 34 instructors in all Learning Communities (except Keyboarding).
1/3 respondents were from WITC and 2/3 of the respondents were from K-12. Most found out
about FTF via a paper brochure. The survey also noted that participants are highly likely to
revise/update curriculum and or change instructional practices.
FTF Leadership Team members are: Barb Landstrom-WITC, Nancy Graese-CESA #11, Connie
Erickson-CESA #11, Jim Lee-CESA#12 and Christy Roshell-WITC was recently added to the
team.

Summer Academies for students 2014 were offered through Career Prep & Workforce
Resource. There were also DPI grants that offered summer academies for high school
students. (These were administered through Continuing Education and WITC grants office.
Career Specialists recruited for the DPI grant workshops.
Liz Pizzi and Barb Landstrom gave an update on the Academies:
Rice Lake
DPI Welding Academy, July 7-17
DPI Nursing Assistant Course, August 4-27
New Richmond
DPI Welding Academy, June 9-19
Welding Academy, July 14-25
Nursing Assistant course for Hudson/River Falls students, June 24-July 29
Manufacturing 101 and Intro to Health Careers, Week of June 23
Polk/St. Croix
OSHA 10 Construction certification course, week of July 25
Superior
DPI Welding and Certified Nursing Assistant courses offered in June/July.
Liz also mentioned the WIOA new funding formula. The funding formerly was 75% for in-school
youth. Now due to legislation, 75% needs to be spent on out of school students and only 25%
can be spent on in-school youth. Out of school students would need to be 18 years of age.

Dual Credit Day/Articulation – We have agreements with 42 schools in our district and
one school in Clark county. Advanced Standing agreements at 33 schools—approx 220
agreements; transcripted credit at 32 schools; 217 agreements—some of these courses are
offered more than once during the school year. 24 schools have both advanced standing
and transcripted credit agreements with us.
Dual Credit Day was held on August 13, 2014. 36 WITC staff attended and 34 high school staff
were in attendance. The next Dual Credit day is scheduled for October 14, 2015.
We now have seven years of data related to transcripted credit. The students who participate in
Dual Credit are better prepared for postsecondary education.
Good information to have on college and career readiness. Similar success results for traditional
college prep and CTE prep.
Suggestion to include a summary in the 2014-2015 High School Relations booklet showing the
benefits of Dual Credit.
Advanced standing and transcripted credit information can be found on the WITC web site,
http://www.witc.edu/highschool/advanced.htm

The Manufacturers Revealed expo was held October 8th at each campus location.
Businesses and Industry employees were available for demonstrations and discussions. The
event was positively received by attendees. What should we do in the future with this
event?—scheduling, time of day-vary campus locations are some ideas.
Judy commented on layout for this year’s event at WITC-Superior compared to last year. In
2013, attendees needed to funnel through all of the exhibits before they would get to the
refreshments. In 2014 you could wander any way that you wanted to or even eat without visiting
any exhibits.
Planning is underway to hold an event of this type in the Grantsburg community for parents and
students.
Would like to revisit discussion on a major career adventure activity— John will be talking with
PC about this. The Career Prep group will be available/willing to help with planning.
Upcoming Events:

Barron County Manufacturing Advisory Group, will be the “pilot” group to meet on
November 4th 7:30-9:00 breakfast meeting. This group is comprised of educators and
manufacturers from Barron County.
 Diva Tech – date is set for February 11 at WITC-Superior. 5 schools are invited to attend.
Jenny Bannink will be the featured speaker. A current WITC Welding student has also
volunteered. She attended last year’s event in Ashland and is a WITC Welding student as a
result of participating in Diva Tech 2014.The real value of this event is hands on projects.
Several of the WITC-Superior trades programs will host the students and provide hands-on
activities—lay a weld for example. Participants actually get a feel for what it would be like to
be in these various occupations. The day will conclude with tours at: CharterNEX, Exodus,
and Lake Assault.
 FTF 2015 Planning. We want to focus on Career and Tech Ed certifications and also
relationships between our faculty and K-12 staff. The brochure will be developed and sent
out in late winter.
Session ideas:













Welding
CISCO—IT Essentials
I-CAR program
Building Bridges
Diversity
On Course
CTE Teacher team role
Articulation
Counseling
Personalized Learning
Flipped Classrooms
Career Readiness for ES and MS teachers
ACP’s

Discussion about ACPs:Academic & Career Plans in the works at DPI—There are two
statewide committees with the goal of implementation in 2017-2018. CESA #11 is the Lead
of the Professional Development group.
Most influential people in a child’s life are parents and teachers—
Postsecondary disconnect—
Since 1986, the motto has been, Education for Employment.
1. Elementary--Career Awarenes
2. Middle School-- Career Exploration
3. High School--Career Prep. In 2001 Tech Prep came into play. Within CESA #11 and
CESA #12, the career plans would then come to the council for review and comment.
Revitalize—Academic and Career Planning Process- grades 6-12—this involves parents.
(Education for Employment did not include parents.)
Hand out, one page for the administrative rule—sent electronically.
Preparation for Academic & Career Planning—annually update education plans. What will this
look like for students? It will have to be the responsibility of everyone at the school.
3rd element—parent engagement
4th element—measuring the success—look at GPA, ACT. Do students have a clear picture of
what they want to do for employment?
DPI should be in charge of the reporting process. Smarter way of reporting.
We should be developing SKILLS!!
Have age appropriate skills and have those identified. Start with 6th graders.
Taskforce—UW, WI Tech colleges, K-12, and businesses charged with working closely with DPI
in putting together the ACP process. Professional Development group is drafting administrative
rule. The Professional Development team has 25-30 people that are meeting monthly with the
goal of providing the plan/recommendation of PD deliverables. What needs to be included? The
180 day rule for school year is no longer in place. Resources will need to be fluid.
Parent/guardian—how to engage these people? How do we have resources available?
Different challenges in different parts of the state. Opportunities in Green Bay are not the same
as in Webster, for example. Huge relationship builders. We are doing a lot of great things in
northern WI and are ahead of the curve in some respects.
Roll outs up north—we are ready.
The career development student software system will be paid for by the state. Schools will no
longer have to pay for the software. This will help mobile students. Programs of Study are the
framework for career planning. The work that we have been doing in our schools has really
helped us with a good start.

Spring Counselor Workshop – April 24th at CESA #11, Turtle Lake – looking for topics—
consider ACP. May be good to invite school-to work-contacts also.

WITC High School Relations Committee Work
Trying to bring together everyone who touches high schools--Student Services, Marketing,
Career Prep, Counselor, Academics, etc.
 2 main focuses—Gatekeeper Communications and Career Pathways
 We are maintaining a chart of contacts
o
Gatekeeper Communications subgroup work:
o
Discovered that we need a directory of who to contact at WITC for a
specific purpose—campus specific—this will be located under Future
Students on our Web site
o
The high schools were surveyed to get this information
o
Career Pathways Subgroup work:

Want to map out what is available from advanced standing/transcripted
credit into a WITC program and continuing to a 4-year program.
 Dairy Herd Management was the first program to develop a bridge program
 Pilot IT Information Technology at RL for bridge programming
 Would like to target our articulated courses—Is there an Academy that students can
complete while in high school?
Lunch

Updates from everyone present
 Grantsburg, Suzie Retzer
Parker-Hannifin has come to the school looking for workers. They are starting an engineering
externship—in-depth job shadow. Parker offered scholarships to students in machining and
manufacturing.
D.R. Tech—looking for welders.
Women of Tomorrow—etiquette and manners in the world of work. The tables during the
luncheon are arranged in groupings by Career Pathways.
Men of Tomorrow also have a similar event held at WITC.
Gold Collar event at Pine Tech
Certified Nursing Assistant class
Career Pathway alignment—large undertaking--aligning all of current courses with career
pathways.
 WITC, Cindy King
New Programming—pathways
Development of gerontology, implement fall of 2015
New programming ideas form, on our Web site—ability to give input.
ECE development – 6 phone calls to the school related to ECE
Credentials will be awarded at each level of the embedded certficates.
 Hudson, Melisa Hansen
2 questions on school referendum—related to building a 10-12 grade school building or an
auditorium building on the present site.
Tenth grade academies enrollment figure; STEM, 70’s and HCA, 58. Project-based learning.
Project Lead The Way, A&P course development.
Grant for Fast Forward focus on Youth Apprenticeship. April 14 Job Fair—would like to offer 80 100 jobs to juniors. Training teachers on OSHA 10 and 30; Serve Safe Manager training.
Looking at stackable credentials in the YA program. 5 schools participate in this—
Baldwin-Woodville, River Falls, New Richmond, St. Croix Central, & Hudson.
Dec 18—meeting to help 9th graders determine if they would want to go in to the health field or
Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math
November 12—Women in Careers.
Many requests come in to the Hudson school. There is now a location on the Hudson Web site,
so that community/business partners can find out who to connect with.
 Amery, Ramona Lockwood
Advisory Board meeting. Kurtis Burton, new Career Specialist at WITC-NR will be asked to join
the advisory board
Mad City money—credit union
Required Careers Class
Act 59 paperwork submitted. 39 students completed. 30 apprentices are signed up for this year.
stipends can be awarded for various reasons—scholarships, stipends, etc.
Employers are hearing of the YA opportunity and contacting the school wanting to put on a YA
student.
 WITC, John Will
Pathways—very important initiative
Employers still indicate that they need employees with skills
Looking at admissions vs. enrolled students, etc.
Question about property tax money funding the technical colleges.
70% of property tax levy is gone from the WI tech college funding and covered instead in the
state budget.
Revenue cap and formula funding
Fast Forward grants, DWD – welding

CESA #11, Nancy—June 30th in 2015, final workday for Nancy!
 Workforce Resource, Liz
Recruitment for Director of Workforce—Dick Best will take on a mentor role. Watch for
information on new director in November.
Change in the organization of the board. Can bid for services.
 WITC, Christy
Superior Campus and New Richmond Career Day, November 14th
February 3, RL and ASH
Rice Lake, Grantsburg on site, next week.
MS and HS parents & students are invited to Parents Night.
December 3 Skills Day—Skills USA and Dairy Quiz Bowl
Planning for March 10th 8th grade day.

CESA #12, Jim Lee
Interpreting the new laws and what this means to the schools
STEM Career Day in April. Northland and WITC sponsor this event for 8th grade students
focusing on science and math.
Highlighting WITC Energy and IT programs and Northland Colleges, Math and Science
Reality fair—attempt
 CEP, Suzannah
Pathway initiatives—manufacturers revealed
Highway to Highway—transportation industry
Replicate mythbusting in manufacturing in 8 counties--now shifted into Price and Taylor—
exposure to technical college programming
Medical Discovery Days—team up with WITC—focus on all medical programs
Diva Tech, Feb 11, 2015 at WITC-Superior
AHEC center—Hands-on presentations in the schools related to C NA and PCW offered to all
WITC district schools
Team up with WITC-- industry summer camp in Ashland. Ashland-Bayfield Counties. 20-30
MS girls focus on emergency medicine as a career.
 WITC-Ashland, Dede
Medical Assistant now offered every year. Very demanding program.
Conversion efforts—try to know the student and why they may be leaving
Discovery and Career Days
Focused career days on campus for evenings
Encourage program shadowing
October 1—some programs require a computer assessment, E Lab is the name of the
assessment—IT and Health Information Tech
E-Lab—can you send an attachment, various things you need to do to be an online student.
PILOT with bridge course—if needed, they would attend a 12 hr. bootcamp or a course to gain
the computer skills needed to succeed.
 WITC-New Richmond, Joe Huftel shared information on a news report-Employment in low-wage occupations has increased markedly since 2000, with the growth
accelerating since 2010 and jobs in middle-wage occupations decreased. Link to the article,
http://www.jsonline.com/business/low-wage-jobs-grew-fastest-in-wisconsin-since-2000-new-study-findsb99378035z1-280713942.html
New grant-funded position at New Richmond:, Career Advisment Specialist—liaison between
Workforce Resources, WITC and WIB.
NWMOC, Brad Nassett is relocating from Wausua to WITC NR.
Kurtis Burton, new Career Specialist at WITC NR.
 Barron County Economic Development, Dave Armstrong
Wage survey—partnered with UW Extension to conduct a wage survey that went to
all employers in Barron County—results will be available online in January.
Business Revealed—similar to Manufacturers Revealed—show people just what our area
businesses are all about: Rice Lake Weighing, Johnson Truck Bodies, American Excelsior.
2 programs—entrepreneurial training for post secondary schools and grades 6-12
Grant for economically disadvantaged, chronically poor—Benjamin House and Barron County
disability center
2013 Barron County Economic Development—skills survey—conference to share the
information.
The workforce continues to be a big issue. Graduates leave the area. More deaths than
graduates. We need workers in Barron County—not more businesses.
 WITC, Barb Landstrom
Madison-STEM meeting, have someone from PLTW come up to see if we can work in a
consortium group – see how we can promote STEM especially in our smaller schools—how can
we connect this to the tech colleges?

2:30
Next Meeting Dates:
Wed. Feb 4, 9-11 a.m. via IP from each WITC location and CESA
Wed. April 29, 2015 at WITC-Superior from 9 – 2:30 p.m.
Adjourn
s/CareerPrep/NWWIConsortiummeetings/2014