After remaining stagnant for decades, K-12 education is due for a revamp, said Hempfield Area Deputy Superintendent Emily Sanders.
“If you think about our schools, they haven’t changed much in the last 100 years, from the way they look to the way that they operate,” she said.
That’s a problem Hempfield Area is looking to tackle head-on, Sanders said — particularly as it prepares to break ground in June on a large-scale renovation of its high school. The goal, she said, is to provide students with more career-based learning opportunities before they graduate.
The district plans to draw inspiration from “Multiple Choice” — a documentary highlighting the impact of an innovation center installed at Winchester Public Schools in Virginia. The documentary, which has yet to be released, will be screened March 16 at the Palace Theatre in a collaboration of educators at Hempfield Area, Greensburg Salem and Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center.
“That might not be the same exact story or path that we choose,” Sanders said, “but it’s at least giving us some ideas to go off and to see it be successful in another school.”
‘We need to break down those barriers’
Sanders heard of the documentary through a local network of school administrators. She soon learned it also had captured the attention of Jason Lucia — administrative director of the career and technology center — and Ken Bissell, superintendent of Greensburg Salem.
The administrators decided to host a joint screening of the documentary for Western Pennsylvania educators, business owners, community leaders and parents.
“I think to make this change, we’re going to have to heavily rely on the greater community,” Sanders said, “and be able to break down some of these barriers and boundaries we’ve put up in the past. … I think we need to break down those barriers and just start doing what is best for students and trying to imagine what that workforce is going to look like. We can’t do it alone.”
‘A different way to learn’
Hempfield Area and Greensburg Salem already have begun incorporating career-based learning into their schools.
The Aspiring Educators program — a partnership with Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center that launched in 2023 — is one ongoing example. Students from Westmoreland County high schools can earn college-level education credits by enrolling in the program, which is held at Hempfield’s Stanwood Elementary.
Last year, Greensburg Salem certified its early childhood development program through the state, allowing students to test for a child development associate certificate right after high school.
Hempfield Area aims to transform its ninth grade business class into an entrepreneurship credit program through the career and technology center. And Greensburg Salem hopes to work with the career and technology center to offer college-level business, finance and technology courses in future years, Bissell said.
“It just gives them a different way to learn that is much more relevant to them and their passions,” he said. “It shows them that there’s different ways to succeed during and after high school that don’t have to be the traditional ways of teaching we’ve been doing for too long.”
Hempfield Area plans to bolster its career-based learning opportunities through its high school renovation — an estimated $150 million project with an approximate completion date of June 2029.
The focal point of the renovation is a two-story addition to the front of the building, pitched as an innovation center. It could include a media center, a school store, an innovation lab, collaborative spaces for students and flexible-use classrooms.
Sanders predicts career-based learning will become even more important at the high school level as artificial intelligence continues to permeate the workforce.
“If you start to do the research and dive into what the experts are saying, a lot of those jobs are going to be replaced,” she said. “We need to quickly catch up to equip these students with the right skills and knowledge that they need to grab those jobs that are going to be available when they’re done with their education career.”
