Too long.
No room on the schedule.
Lack of interest.
These are the main reasons students gave as to why they didn’t sign up for Oxford High School’s CAD (Computer Aided Design) classes next year.
As a result of low enrollment, the program was suspended for the 2005-06 school year, drawing a room full of concerned parents and students to the June 14 school board meeting.
‘While CAD is not a requirement to get into college, it may just be that extra advantage over the identical type of student competing to get into the same college,? said Kelly Sutphin, mother of OHS sophomore Tiara Tatarczuk who was enrolled in the Architectural CAD class.
Two weeks before the end of this school year, students enrolled in the CAD classes at OHS were told the class was suspended for the following school year due to low enrollment.
CAD, which is an important start for anyone entering into the engineering and graphics field, had a decent number of students enrolled in the past three school years. Money from the 2001 voter-approved school bond issue purchased $30,000 to $35,000 in new computers and $5,000 in new software for the CAD program.
Superintendent Virginia Brennan-Kyro said at the School Board meeting June 14 that she was just as surprised at the situation as anybody.
‘It blind-sided the high school administration just as much as the parents when this year we only had 27 students,? she said.
Brennan-Kyro said that in the 2003-04 school year, 38 students were enrolled in the CAD program. This number signaled to teachers and the administration to get on the ball and start various recruiting strategies to get the number higher. And it worked.
In the 2004-05 school year, there were approximately 45 students enrolled in the various CAD programs at OHS. The numbers seemed to be increasing. But with this year’s total at only 27 and the school district’s budget problems, the administration decided to suspend the program for one year.
Brennan-Kyro said three years ago, the schools could offer classes with low numbers because they could financially afford it. She said the district’s revenue has remained the same, but the cost of doing business has increased greatly. The target student number for each classroom has also increased due to more students entering the school this year.
Other classes that have been suspended due to lack of enrollment are a keyboarding class, family issues class and the Jazz band class that operates during the day.
‘It’s a compounding issue,? said Brennan-Kyro.
At the meeting, parents of CAD students who won’t be able to take the class this fall stated their concerns with the suspension.
Brian Anderson’s son Eric, who is also a sophomore, will have to take a food class instead of the CAD class he was eager to take this fall. Anderson said he didn’t understand why the low enrollment seemed to creep up on the administration and why parents weren’t informed sooner about the situation.
Brennan-Kyro said that due to the millage issue in May, the district wasn’t able to schedule their fall classes until they knew if the millage was going to pass.
‘We didn’t even begin to look at our staffing until after May, 4,? she said.
Brennan-Kyro said that other school districts like Ferndale, Clawson and Madison Heights are joining the group of schools not offering CAD. Not just Oxford.
Last year, Lake Orion High School also had to suspend its CAD program due to lack of enrollment. After developing better recruiting strategies, the program was brought back this year with higher numbers. The superintendent said she feels OHS would benefit greatly from the suspension.
To find out why those who took the prerequisite for CAD, Engineering Drawing, didn’t enroll for it this fall, the administration interviewed these students using an exit poll. A majority of them stated that the two-hour block was too long and there was no room in their schedule. Others stated that they weren’t as interested in CAD after taking the prerequisite.
In an effort to keep students involved in the CAD program this year, the administration came up with a few solutions. Even though Lake Orion’s numbers were up for CAD, their classes weren’t as full as they could be. Brennan-Kyro said a partnership of OHS with LOHS would allow students to still take CAD and be the most applicable alternative. ‘Of course, it would have to be approved by their board of education,? she said.
Other ideas were to have students take CAD at the Oakland Technical Center, Oakland Community College or possibly at Oakland University.
Brennan-Kyro hopes that by using the next school year to execute strong recruiting of CAD students, CAD will be returning for the 2006-07 school year. The administration plans on generating more interest in CAD by including mini-CAD units at the middle school, promoting CAD at the 8th grade orientation, review the CAD curricula and see if it would be applicable to run a one hour class instead of two.
The superintendent also wants to make sure everyone understands that the CAD class is on suspension and that it has not been canceled in its entirety. ‘It is our full intent to restore this program,? she said.