A fire academy is coming to Ida Baker High school, thanks to a partnership with the Cape Coral Fire Department.<\/p>\n
A new collaboration has been formed between the School District of Lee County Career and Technical Education at Ida Baker High School and the CCFD.<\/p>\n
Adult, Career, Technical and Alternative ED Associate Superintendent Ed Matthews said through an audit of the programs and the district\u2019s return on investment showed that the current way they are doing the Fire Academy Program is not the best way \u2014 it is extremely expensive and the return on investment very limited.<\/p>\n
Ida Baker High School\u2019s principal asked to look into a collaboration with the fire department as they are passionate about growing their own. He said through some collaboration with the fire chief, the CCFD will have a full academy at Ida Baker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are paying for everything, except we are paying for the cost of the instructor,\u201d Matthews said.<\/p>\n
He said instead of four or five students graduating into fire two, now it can be up to 24 students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthews said the actual training center for firefighters is very close to the school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really a win-win scenario. The stars were in alignment for that particular scenario,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Another exciting endeavor is collaboration with Lee Health, which, Matthews said, is the No. 1 employer for Lee County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had a sit down summit with principals and district officials,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are very in on growing their own with us. Our students can start at $20 (an hour). Every position starts with them at $20.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discussions are going on to do medical signing days for all medical students at the Lee Health Sports Complex. Matthews said they will celebrate students going into the workforce, going into college, as well as holding a Lee Health job fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cLee Health, on any given day, has about 1,000 open jobs. We want to be good partners with them and create more opportunities for our students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The discussion was part of an overall discussion of CTE programs within the school district and how they are seeking more business partners.<\/p>\n
Adult, Career and Applied Curriculum Education Director Matthew Bredenkamp said they created a database for their business partners to know where partners are connecting with schools and what CTE programs.<\/p>\n
High schools have 164 individual business programs, technical colleges and apprentice programs have 275 and the Career and Tech Ed Department have 51 business partners.<\/p>\n
Bredenkamp said there are academies that do not have any business partnerships. The goal is to have at least one business partner to tie kids into real world experiences by 2027, and three by 2029.<\/p>\n