Not everybody wants to bury their head in a book and yes we need folks who know how to manufacture and repair stuff. Great idea.
Pictured on left, T Spritzler competing at age 13 in the Highland Park Soap Box Derby. Yes, I built that bad boy. I lost to Blaze Viti, who's dad ran a repair and steel fabricating shot. I suspect Blaze's dad entirely built the car.
A Maine Lobster Town Sees Its Future in Shop Class
St. George broke away from the regional district so its kids could learn skilled trades in school.
By Sierra Dawn McClain, WSJ
Feb. 16, 2024 2:34 pm ET
Vocational and technical courses are making a comeback in American education. But when residents of this coastal community sought to reintroduce shop class and career training to their local schools a decade ago, they discovered an unexpected problem: The rules of the regional school district wouldn’t allow it. So in 2014 St. George residents voted 1,163 to 226 to break free and create their own district. One of the first things they did with that independence was develop a trade program.
The town of St. George, which includes the villages of Port Clyde and Tenants Harbor, sits on a peninsula jutting out into the blue-green Atlantic southwest of the city of Rockland. The economy is built around lobstering and has been for generations. Parents here are uniquely driven—desperate, even—to make the trade program successful. They view lobster fishing as under threat from federal environmental regulations and the potential construction of offshore wind turbines. If the lobster industry collapses, St. George parents want their children to have other career options. And they want to keep their town alive.
The district is unusual in that it doesn’t wait until students reach high school to incorporate career and technical training into the curriculum. During a two-day visit, I watched fourth-graders design complex three-dimensional objects on Tinkercad, a basic engineering software system. Middle-schoolers made insulation for a miniature satellite. Kindergartners and first-graders sporting safety goggles and tool belts enthusiastically hammered at wooden boxes they’d designed.
Eighth-grader William “B.J.” Hallowell is among those who have benefited from the program. His poor performance in school made a U-turn as soon as he was introduced to the trades. His yard is now cluttered with tractors and snowmobiles he’s taking apart, and he dreams of becoming an engineer. His family says he’s happier and calmer and his grades have improved. “Since he started doing hands-on learning, he’s a totally different kid,” his mom, Veronica, said.
Bryson Mattox, 17, said after St. George created its trade program he went from being bored and “coasting” in school to feeling “energized.” Bryson’s sentiment reflects national trends. According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, vocational training is associated with higher levels of student engagement and reduced high-school dropout rates. Though still a high-school senior, Bryson has his own laser-cutting business; he makes signs, mugs, puzzles and cheese boards. He already has an offer to work at Lyman-Morse, a custom boat builder in nearby Thomaston, after graduation.
Many St. George students build on their technical training with electives at Rockland’s Mid-Coast School of Technology. Bobby Deetjen, the director, said students entering from St. George are better prepared than their peers: “They’re coming preloaded.” The parents and teachers I spoke with said hands-on technical education has been good even for college-bound students. They’re not merely filling out a bubble on a standardized math test; they’re using math to build robots.
St. George administrators say they’ve heard from other school districts interested in adopting a similar model. But a constellation of factors, not all replicable, make St. George’s program work.
For one, the district has Superintendent Mike Felton, whom parents and teachers describe as “a fearless leader” with “infectious energy.” A law-school graduate, he has proved adept at navigating the state education bureaucracy and securing funding. He also talks like a salesman, which wins people to his cause. “If we ain’t dreamin’ big, we’re doing a disservice to our students,” he says.
It also helps that the district is small and parents are unusually engaged. With only 291 enrolled students, the St. George Municipal School Unit is a manageable size for experimenting with new programs. Local businesses have supported the program by taking on high-school interns, hosting field trips, sending representatives to speak in classes, and volunteering to teach workshops.
As the program expands, space has become an issue. Construction starts next month on a 5,130-square-foot “Makerspace,” a shop with workstations for carpentry, metalworking and other trades. Some 55% of the construction project’s funding is from private donations. The lobstering families of St. George are in no way wealthy, but the region has plenty of well-to-do residents. Its scenic beauty draws many “rusticators”—families who spend long summers on the coast of Maine—and wealthy retirees. Locals call those who hail from outside the town “from away,” a mildly derogatory term. But through the years, the from-aways and the longtime residents have come to appreciate each other.
A final ingredient that makes the program successful is social trust. St. George is the sort of town where people don’t lock their front doors. Neighbors’ willingness to lay aside political differences to work together is what makes the trade program work. It may also be what enabled the community to create an independent, locally controlled public school district in the first place. While many credit Mr. Felton, he says it’s the people of St. George whose grit and determination make it all possible: “You don’t get much more independent than a Yankee fisherman.”
Ms. McClain is the Journal’s Joseph Rago Memorial Fellow.
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