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Putting education to work: R-1 superintendent named to state advisory council
NEW MADRID, Mo. - Dr. Sam Duncan listens closely as the student explains what they are learning about welding. Another student flips down his mask, lights a blow torch then demonstrates the new skills as Duncan watches.
As superintendent of the R-1 School District, Duncan not only oversees the district’s three elementary schools, the middle school and the high school but also the District’s Technical Skills Center, where the welding was under way. Now Duncan will use his experiences with TSC’s programs, teachers and students to help guide Missouri’s efforts to create a workforce to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Earlier this month, Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven appointed Duncan to the Missouri Career and Technical Education Advisory Council. As one of 16 members of the committee, which includes other educators, legislators and business leaders, Duncan will provide advice to the State Board of Education on issues that impact career and technical education programs in Missouri.
The committee is tasked with a range of duties from making recommendations on funding and legislation to promoting and improving career and technical education. They are urged to meet with industry and business leaders to identify gaps and then find ways to fill those gaps as Missouri improves its career and technical education.
Since accepting the job as superintendent at New Madrid County R-1 in 2016, Duncan said he has actively studied the role of technical skills education in the school district. Shortly after he joined the administration, the district’s largest taxpayer closed its doors.
“My journey started back when we were struggling financially. We had to questioned everything and, of course, a big part of what we do is our technical skills program. While it is partially funded by monies from other entities including federal and state, a lot of it is funded locally,” he recalled.
As the school board and the administration pieced together the 2016-17 budget, Duncan said decisions needed to be made. He said they agreed that if the district was to continue offering technical skills training, even with limited resources, they must take steps to ensure the program was viable.
With the recent job market improvements in Southeast Missouri, the District hired Renee Smith as a full-time director for the TSC. Duncan said they met with industry leaders to determine their employment needs and how to meet them.
Joining that conversation was State Rep. Don Rone.
“Don came in sometime over the summer of 2018 and really started us thinking about how not just our school district but school districts throughout the region that have tech skills centers can work together to make sure we are providing students trained in the trades where the jobs are in our region,” Duncan said.
Duncan added Rone brought state education officials into the discussion. The superintendent credits those meetings with his being considered for the state advisory council.
“So, it didn’t come completely out of the blue, however it was a surprise,” Duncan said about the appointment. “Anytime I have a chance to talk about how important the trades are and tech skills have become, I do and will. . . I believe that our district has tried to take a lead and tried to jump into the main stream.”
While he said he is thrilled about his appointment, he acknowledged there is work ahead.
First, he said, school districts and state education officials need to do a better job of communicating with students and their parents about the opportunities available.
“We need to find a mechanism for informing them without telling anyone they shouldn’t go to college - and this can be tricky - but informing parents and students that a technical track is a viable option,” Duncan said.
“I would like to see the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education successfully promote a cohesive, throughly articulated tech skills work force development plan statewide. It is not enough for school districts to be out here on our own talking to students about all the jobs available, we need the Education Department to weigh in,” he said.
School districts should be held accountable in helping students plan for their future, he added.
“While there is an inkling of accountability for school districts to do this. It is not nearly heavy enough. The big target on the wall should include more significantly what are school districts doing to ensure students understand the options they have and rewarding school districts on their annual performance reports,” Duncan said. “If you are a school district that is doing good job of promoting technical skills education in a way that shows students the options available and if those kids are being placed, I think the state could shine a bigger light on that as a success story as much perhaps as attendance or ACTs.”
Duncan said state officials are listening. He noted Governor Mike Parson is encouraging career readiness for Missouri’s graduates.
“They are doing a ton of work,” he said. “But, we also need to talk about the perceptions we all have of trades. I think if you look at social media and everything else you will see we need to repaint that picture for our students because there are a lot of really good careers in the trades.”
Duncan, who will attend his first advisory meeting in July, said he wants to ensure the voices of Southeast Missourians are heard in Jefferson City.
“I will certainly be able to offer the representation from this part of the state on what we need technical skills to look like for our regional development needs,” he said. “I also feel, that across the state there are a lot of really good things going on that we don’t know about yet. I think that I will learn a lot from the people sitting around the table and this will help us help our region.”
As the TSC director Smith has worked with Duncan over the past two years and called him dedicated to the role technical skills can play in students’ lives.
“I think (the appointment) shows Dr. Duncan’s commitment to technical skills and the hard work he has put forth the last two years to improve and support the technical skills centers throughout Southeast Missouri,” she said. “I am really excited for him and I think it is an honor for our school district to have someone from Southeast Missouri on that board.”
Duncan said what he expects to learn from serving on the council won’t just benefit technical skills students. He emphasized he intends for all R-1 graduates to benefit.
“The one thing I would like would be if we could have 100 percent of our graduates walk across the stage with a productive and hopeful plan for their future, their next step in life,” he said. “This is my objective as a school leader. I think this is a step in the right direction and is actually the state’s focus they have right now.”