By Mary Alice Murphy

Silver Consolidated Schools Superintendent Audie Brown opened the meeting for community members at the Community Dialogue on Oct. 9, 2018.

"I had a business and because of a situation with an employee, I decided to become an educator," Brown said. "There are primary and necessary criteria before a community can bring in outside businesses. As Senator Mimi Stewart said: 'The state cannot bring in businesses without an excellent education system.'

"We must provide the best education we possibly can," he continued. "I'm excited to be working with STEM [Science, technology, engineering and mathematics] and STEAM [which adds Art to STEM]. We have top notch teachers, but we need to work on the system. Thank you for being here to help make Silver Schools the best they can be."

Associate Superintendent Curtis Clough, who facilitated the event, also thanked everyone for coming. "I kept hearing that we don't know what is needed. I believe in giving kids skills as soon as possible. We want to try to be the best in New Mexico. Today we want to hear from you. This would not have happened without Scott Terry of the Chamber of Commerce and this Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center. I also want to thank John Francis of WNM Communications for providing lunch."

"Why is this dialogue needed?" Clough asked. "One of things we've learned in education is that we don't listen well. If we aren't listening, we are not knowing what you need."

In the PowerPoint presentation, Clough listed the business and education wants and desires. Businesses want base level skills where an individual can come in and be a valued employee of the organization from Day 1. They want people with abilities in work in a job setting with the ability to be retrained to specific needs for organizational operation, and businesses want individuals that can fill specific needs to a job description that the employer needs filled right now.

Education wants to prepare students for their future endeavors whether they go to college or to prepare them for a viable career opportunity upon their graduation. Education also wants to expose students to multiple exploration opportunities, so they can make informed decisions for their futures and paths in life. It also wants to develop the necessary skills and abilities in the students, so they have multiple opportunities to pursue their dreams upon graduation—not the end, but the beginning of their lifelong journey. The last want is to advise them as to their best options as they go forward in life.

The group broke into smaller groups of about five persons at a table to talk about how to create the ultimate employee. Each group talked about organizational needs of each group. Then the smaller groups were asked to develop a list of personal skills that were needed by employees. Attitude was one of the personal skills that was mentioned, as in not having a sense of entitlement, not wanting to do the work to get to the job they want. You can teach lots of things, but you can't teach nice.

The groups flipped a couple of people to other tables, mixing up the members of each groups.

They then compared what had been brought to the table by the new members of the group with what the original members of the group had decided and made changes and clarification. They then changed a few more members. Each step refined what the original groups had come up with.

"How do we go about collecting and collaboratively developing a highly qualified, highly skilled employee/worker for today's workforce needs?" Clough asked. "How can we work together collectively, to create a 21st Century workforce that meets the needs and objectives of the region for now and years to come?"

He said the purpose of the day was to engage the community partners in an active discussion to create collaborative relationships that meet the needs and goals of the workforce and economic goals and strategies for Grant County.

The community dialogue is designed to achieve the following outcomes:
1) Open a conversation between the school district and the community partners to assess the needs and desires for a highly skilled, work-ready workforce for the region;
2) Chart a direction for collective action and collaboration that meets the needs of the community and region for employability and career development for students and community stakeholders; and
3) Engage all stakeholders in a strategic, educational initiative that aligns the community and regional priorities for economic and workforce development, so the region maintains stability and grows with the ability to keep the best and brightest students at home for the betterment of the region.

Clough said the four phases of the community dialogue process start with Phase 1, a needs assessment/asset mapping to regional workforce development priorities and Phase 2 community engagement and educational initiatives.

"We are now in phases 1 and 2, " Clough said. "Phase 3 will be policy/legislative initiatives aimed at changing existing policy and legislative barriers to success."

He gave an example of a barrier: a person 18 years of age not being able to do internships or on the job training because of insurance issues.

Phase 4 consists of fiscal/funding initiatives with fiscal management/accountability structures.

After lunch, the groups ranked the critical priorities and needs of the organizations by immediate, high, medium and low. Most went into the immediate and high ranks.

Clough said he had been asked about the timeline of the process. "In Alaska, we took about eight months. In Ohio, they're still in it. I hope for about one year. Although because of state changes, it may be more like three to five years. Our goal is to have all As in our schools. There are a lot of smart people in this county."

"We have to make sure kids figure out their mistakes in high school," he said. "Today about 35 percent of students go straight to college for four years. About 32 percent to 34 percent take one or two years off before going to college."

He asked Group 1 to determine the priority occupations or careers that are needed now and in the next three to five years. Group 2 was charged with determining what current or desired policy initiatives at the state or local level should be in consideration when mapping the direction of educational/training programs for the workforce.

For asset mapping, Clough asked what assets and resources each person could bring to the table that could be accessed for education or job training for those occupations or job training that had been determined as the priorities.

It was noted that gateway occupations or transitional careers were needed.

Suggestions included office support jobs, bringing employees in and growing them within the business, internships, and apprenticeships that lead to jobs after graduation.

Next steps included clearly identifying regional goals and objectives for workforce and economic development that meet regional needs with action steps; identifying the missing resources or people that can add value to the process and inviting them to the next meetings; identifying priority pathways and careers that can provide a highly skilled, highly trained individual for the workforce; and identifying key partnerships and activities that need to occur so the objectives can be advanced for workforce and economic development.

One attendee noted that there were three big issues: funding, funding and funding.

Another attendee suggested a policy change of rewriting the federal Perkins loan plan to make it easier for students to pay off college debt.

The next session has not yet been announced.