School Board Learns About NHS Enterprise Courses

By Eliza Hallabeck

Whether it is selling T-shirts or other Nighthawk paraphernalia, preparing and making food, helping poinsettias bloom or fixing computers, Newtown High School is a place where students and teachers have been performing businesslike pursuits.

Over two nights of Board of Education meetings, Jay Daly, the department chair of the Fine and Applied Arts Department at Newtown High School, pulled magic out of his sleeves, or so he describes the programs, teachers, and students he oversees.

He began by describing the “Jenga Effect.” The expectations in the Newtown School District are much higher than the town’s willingness to fund the schools, he said. The implementation of the funding in a district where the expectation is much higher, Mr Daly explained, results in a system similar to a Jenga puzzle where chunks have been taken out of a tall structure of blocks.

To work past the holes in this structure, Mr Daly said magicians are needed to produce the higher expectations of work from the comparatively lower level of funds.

Magicians he listed at the meeting included culinary teachers Brian Neumeyer and Stephen O’Shana, applied technology teacher Tom Swetts, early child teacher Stephanie Gacso, computer technology teacher Kristin Violett,e and many other teachers and all of their students, past and present.

He ended his presentation by handing out Jenga blocks for the school board members and administrators present as a future remembrance of his presentation.

“I want you to remember me standing here,” he said. “…and I want you to remember as you sit and make your decisions, hear the voices and respond. That hand is yours. If you pull a piece out, or shrink something, or allow it to die for some other reason, the consequences are difficult to predict. We start from a weak foundation to begin with, and we are banking so much on passionate, creative, magical teachers to sustain this learning that is going on.”

Board of Ed member Anna Wiedemann said it would be helpful to put Mr Daly’s presentation or another form of it on Channel 17 for people to learn about the different opportunities and programs at the school.

In the presentation, Mr Daly discussed the computer repair enterprise program NewTek, the Newtown Greenery, the Marketplace, which is the school store, Newtown Graphics, which prints all forms at the high school, the Nurtury program, and the culinary program, which consists of the Snack Shack and Checks. As enterprise programs they do not get further funding, and to get money each program makes money.

“These are business programs,” said Lillian Bittman, vice chair of the board, “truly business programs. So yes, you’re learning some technical skills, but you’re learning concrete business skills that would go to a business degree maybe in college.”

As a computer repair enterprise program, NewTek has been around for a few years at the school. For students it offers the possibility to become a Dell certified computer repair technician, and for residents it offers a close center near home to have their computers inspected.

The program is comprised of students in computer repair 1, 2 and 3 classes, according to Mr Daly.

“Mr Swetts built this enterprise out of nothingness,” said Mr Daly.

He said Mr Swetts took a summer off several years ago, went to Texas and went through factory training at the Dell Factory Service Center. He became a Dell authorized technician, and got NHS established as a Dell Authorized Warranty Service Center.

The program makes about $1,100 a year.

“If you have a Dell computer that is broken,” Mr Daly said, “bring it to the high school. They’ll fix it. The labor rates cannot be beat.”

Ms Bittman said this is one program at the school that could use a marketing student.

“Most people don’t know that,” said Ms Wiedemann regarding the program existing at the school.

The Newtown Greenery, as another enterprise program at the school, is overseen by computer technology teacher Kristin Violette.

Mr Daly said the program raises plants, and can take orders. Displays are also set up in NHS during the school year, and during the holiday season poinsettias were on sale in the school’s lobby.

The Newtown Greenery earns between $800 and $1,100 a year.

“They’ll be the first to tell you,” said Mr Daly at the school board meeting regarding the culinary program, “it’s not about the food. It’s about what they learn about themselves.”

Culinary students had attended the first meeting that Mr Daly spoke at, on December 2, armed with food.

“What they learn is that they have value in life,” Mr Daly said. “They learn ‘it’s going to be okay. I have skills. I can learn things and find a place for myself in the world. After I leave here, life is less scary. I’m going to be okay.’ Every one of us remembers a point in our life when we came to that realization.”

Mr Daly spoke about previous students who had continued the education they learned in the enterprise programs after graduating from NHS.

“Without programs like [the culinary program], not just this program, but other programs like this, they don’t get this understanding,” he said.