Morgan Adjusts Its Career Tech Program

McCONNELSVILLE, Ohio – It’s been 7 months since the Morgan Local School District announced it was facing a $1.5 Million Dollar budget deficit. 

Since then the school district has scrambled to shore-up its finances while maintaining the level of education that its students and their families have come to expect.

“I think over the last 7 months, I think you know I’ve only been here since July, but what I’ve seen is a group of people working together devoted to kids and a big piece of that’s been trying to find new pathways and opportunities for kids. And what I’ve been really impressed with, we recently had a business meeting here, a stakeholder meeting and seeing the businesses come around and support. So bottom line is, we’re working together to create new pathways for kids and with a tight budget,” Morgan Local School District Superintendent Greg Gifford said.      

In February, the school board listed the elimination of its career technical education program as a possible solution to the budget deficit. But after much deliberation and consultation with local employers, the career tech program remains largely intact.

“One of the biggest pieces that we’re looking at is trying to tie some of our career pathways and create them to work together,” Gifford said. “So, such as, we still have carpentry, we still have machining, we still have electronics, in kind of the combination of trying to work together. So having staffing work together to, you know, use those pathways to help kids be successful. So career tech is still happening at Morgan Local Schools.”

In the wake of exploring how the career tech program can best meet the needs of students and the community, a welding program is being added. However, the automotive program that has been around since 1966 has been dropped.