The Delaware Area Career Center will try out several new courses next school year outside of conventional school hours in an effort to give county students more flexible learning options.
Four of the programs will be for seniors only and will be held from 2:45 to 5 p.m. each day. The four programs are application development programming technician, building facilities technician, health care technician and nail technician. A pharmacy technician program will be added for seniors and will take place from either 7:50 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. or 11:20 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
DACC Superintendent Jay Poroda said the programs came about, in part, because the DACC wants to make the best use of its facility and wants to provide as many opportunities as possible.
“At DACC, we are committed to being transparent and responsible with community resources,” Poroda said. “Ensuring we utilize our impressive, state-of-the-art facility for as many hours each day as possible helps us achieve this commitment for Delaware County residents. Moreover, we learned from the pandemic that students want flexibility in building their educational programs. The Flexible Learning Options program provides additional flexibility to the students we serve.”
Tammy Hall, DACC director of secondary operations, added the school is trying out the new times in response to many programs at the school filling up.
“In the past two years the majority of our programs are at enrollment capacity and have a waiting list,” Hall said. “In conversations with our partner schools, we realize the need to look for opportunities to serve the needs of students … Using the current facilities at a different time during the day allows us to serve more students without the expense of creating an entirely new lab.”
Poroda added the expanded hours allow the DACC to continue its mission in a new way.
“At DACC, our mission is to empower, prepare, inspire, and connect opportunities for the students we serve,” he said. “Providing another avenue allows us to significantly impact our community and help students acquire the skills needed to elevate their lives and be better prepared for life after high school.”
Poroda said the programs were selected because they are extensions of existing popular DACC programs.
“First, we selected these offerings since they directly relate to programs at DACC that are traditionally oversubscribed,” he said. “We also worked with our business and industry partners to ensure a real need for the credentials offered in the four programs exists.”
More information about the programs can be found at DelawareAreaCC.org/flex, and a virtual seminar will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Poroda said the after school programs could be expanded in the future if there is enough interest.
“Since this is a new program for the district, we wanted to ensure we built this program with a solid foundation,” he said. “Beginning with four programs provides us with that opportunity. We will consider adding other programs based on student interest, industry, and community needs in the future.”
