Carbon Career & Technical Institute administrative director David Reinbold provided an update on the Joint Operating Committee’s goals for the school year during Thursday’s meeting.

Items on the roster ranged from maintaining the school’s impressive NOCTI and Keystone scores to more ambitious program introductions.

Reinbold said that a unit on personal finance for senior students is underway, with Jean Bales and Mike Baumgardt handling the classes.

“We partnered with our local Junior Achievement chapter to develop lessons and a culminating field trip to their center in Pittston Township. The unit is in place and six lessons have been taught to date,” Reinbold said.

The committee is also looking to capitalize on their SkillsUSA success stories by increasing the breadth of the program and the number of competitions the school will compete in, including community service projects, automated manufacturing, opening/closing ceremonies, and several other individual competitions. Reinbold said these categories will add 20 more competitors to CCTI’s roster this year.

Next month, the school is set to host its annual precision machining contest, with CCTI, Monroe County Technical Institute, Hazleton Career Center, and Schuylkill Technology Center participating.

An initiative focused on increasing the nontraditional student pool with new recruiting posters and videos is up and running, and has already attracted four prospective candidates to shadow enrolled students at CCTI.

Several new motions have sprung out of the Active Wellness Committee to promote good health to the student body.

“Some new initiatives include giving students access to the fitness center in the morning before homeroom and during the Monday and Thursday after-school programs, increasing the number of healthy snacks in the school store, adhering to health and nutrition guidelines for school lunches and snacks, facilitating various healthy student activities including a Walk-a-Thon and Jump-a-Thon, and lessons integrating health and wellness content are being developed and utilized,” Reinbold said.

Reinbold said that maintaining the school’s impressive testing scores is ongoing, with continual revisions to curricula, lesson delivery, materials and schedules.

To provide a well-rounded education to their students, the school board opted to improve and expand professional development plan lessons. These modules are focused on improving students’ employability with “soft skills,” or personal attributes that help people work efficiently and effectively with fellow employees, in addition to other techniques. Reinbold said that many new resources are being used to supplement the current professional development plan curriculum, such as web-based lessons from Today’s Class, staff-developed lesson plans and more.

Reinbold also said that a plan to host a summer camp for middle school students is on its way, with school officials looking into a partnership with the SHINE Afterschool Program to bolster nontraditional student participation in the camp.

“We did a lot of planning this summer and hit the ground running when school opened, so we are actually ahead of schedule for meeting many of the goals,” Reinbold said.