Millstream working to keep students on track

Vocational education is, by its nature, "hands-on" learning. So for the Millstream Career Center, continuing to educate students during the "hands-off" COVID-19 pandemic presents a challenge. Millstream Career Center will open Sept. 8, along with the Findlay City and Hancock County school districts, thanks in large part to the support of the city and county school superintendents and Hancock Public Health, said Millstream Director Pam Hamlin. Last year, 850 students attended the Millstream Career Center, a record number of students for the vocational school. "It's happening. The stigma about vocational education is finally fading away, and our enrollment is going up. We've worked so hard to get here. We don't want to stop now," Hamlin said. She said enrollment does look like it will be lower this year. The career center educates students from Arcadia, Arlington, Carey, Cory-Rawson, Findlay, Leipsic, Liberty-Benton, McComb, Miller City-New Cleveland, Ottawa-Glandorf, Pandora-Gilboa, Riverdale, Van Buren and Vanlue. Hamlin said health and school officials have walked every student area of the center, working to tailor a plan to allow the school to open safely. The vocational labs must also meet industry standards for preventing COVID-19 spread, she said. For vocational students, losing the ability to be physically present for the labs could mean loss of skills or service time needed for certification, Hamlin said. She said the career cooperative does have some advantages over other public schools: a smaller student population and large labs and classrooms, which will make social distancing more manageable. Should Hancock County drop to a code yellow risk alert, the lowest level of risk in the Ohio Department of Health's color-coded COVID-19 advisories, Millstream, like all other schools in Findlay and Hancock County, will open with a traditional start: students in the classroom, with safety precautions. Hancock County's current elevated level of risk, a code orange, will mean a hybrid start for the schools, including Millstream, with student attendance being staggered through the week. Should the county's risk level be further elevated to a code red, Millstream's feeder schools will go completely remote. Millstream, however, would continue to work with students in its building, broken down into even smaller groups. Students will physically attend the cooperative just once a week for labs, under a code red. Should Hancock County be elevated to code purple, the highest risk level, Millstream will go fully remote. Hamlin said book work and other studies will be remote. "I can't say enough about the cooperation of Findlay's and Hancock County's school superintendents in their willingness to make this work. They are not going to be open under a code red, but they still plan to run a bus for our students," Hamlin said. "They have their own districts to worry about, but they said, no, let's make this work, this is important for these students." For the most part, Millstream students have been grouped by school districts to limit the bus run to just one day per school district. Hamlin said for Millstream's instructors, the blend of traditional and remote learning is a real change of "mindset" from the day-to-day routine of working directly with students. "But we're going to have two weeks of training and we're going to try to help them with ideas to make it all work out," she said. "From there, we'll just have to see how it goes."