COUNCIL ON OCCUPATIONAL
EDUCATION
Institution
is Awarded Candidate Status
Plantation, Florida - The
Commission Executive Committee of the Council on Occupational Education
(COE) has awarded Candidate for Accreditation status to the International
Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 21 Journeyperson and
Apprentice Training Fund. Mr. Russell Shelton, Commission Chair,
following the Winter Commission Meeting held in Plantation, Florida, on
February 16-18, 2008, made announcement of the action.
Candidate for Accreditation
is a pre-accreditation status granted to an institution actively seeking
accreditation by the Commission of the Council.
Candidate institutions must
complete a self study based on the standards, criteria, and conditions
of the Commission and host a visiting team before it is reviewed for initial
accreditation.
The Council on Occupational
Education, based in Atlanta, Georgia, offers quality assurance services
to postsecondary workforce education providers across the nation.
Organized as a non-profit corporation, the mission of the Council is to
assure quality and integrity in career and technical education. Services
offered include institutional accreditation (recognized by the U.S. Department
of Education), program quality reviews for states and workforce education
providers, and informational services. Qualified professional volunteers
who are experts in workforce education carry out most of the Council’s
work.
Institutional membership
in the Council is voluntary, but can be achieved only by becoming accredited.
The Council’s current membership makes it unique. Members include
postsecondary public technical colleges, specialized military and national
defense institutions, Job Corps Centers, private career institutions, non-profit
workforce education providers, corporate and industry education units,
and federal agency institutions. No other agency accredits and serves
the diversity of organizations served by the Council. There are over
400 institutional members at the present time.
The IUPAT District Council
21 JATF hopes that becoming an officially accredited non-profit workforce
educational provider will allow the difficult apprenticeship and journeypersons
to finally be recognized as the true educational experience they deserve.
Below are some advantages to being an accredited facility:
 Recruitment:
often times parents, of graduating high school students, insist that their
children attend college. Drop out rates of colleges are hitting all
time highs. By becoming a Degree Granting Facility, in the future,
we hope parents and Guidance Counselors a like view apprenticeship as a
viable option to traditional postsecondary education.
Financial
Aid: apprenticeship is unique in that you get paid while you learn.
However, apprentices often have trouble affording their first set of tools
or vehicle to assure they get to work on time daily. DC 21 plans
on offering Title IV Financial Aid packages to it’s apprentices to ease
these initial costs associated with entering the workforce and schooling.
There are several advantages
to becoming an accredited education provider. By becoming and remaining
accredited, future District Council 21 members can be assured that the
education they are receiving is of the highest quality.
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Allied
Trades Continuing Education (ACE)
CLICK
HERE for fall 2008 on-line class registration
THE FUTURE
IS IN YOUR HANDS
In an effort
to boost attendance at our journey-person classes, we are sending the ACE
schedule out separate from the newsletter this training period. The training
staff is amazed when three times a year we send out a newsletter with a
schedule of upgrade classes for our members and time after time we cancel
classes for lack of participation. I have made this statement before and
will continue to make it until someone convinces me it is not true.
Would
you go to a doctor that has not read a medical review, or attended a medical
seminar or class since he/she graduated? I bet not.
Would
you give your personal finances to an accountant that has not remained
current on tax laws and or IRS changes? Again, I bet not.
Would
you take a legal issue to a lawyer that has not reviewed new case law or
practiced law since graduating from law school. Again, chances are you
would not.
So let me ask
a question that each member of District Council 21 needs to think about.
How can we expect to gain or even maintain union market share if we are
not willing to remain the best trained in our workforce?
ACE classes
are designed to inform our members about new technologies, product advancements,
and information on our industries that affect all of us. So why do members
refuse to come? Why do members expect 5-10% wage increases each year but
do nothing to better themselves by 5-10%? These may be hard things for
you to read, but they are the truth. In order for our industries to survive
this current construction boom, we need to remain the best workforce in
the market. Did you know that the amount of unionized construction in North
America has sunk again to 12%? Did you know that in 1960 the amount of
unionized construction in North America was about 60-70%? What has
happened that would make our market share decline nearly 55% in the
last 40 years?
Folks, it is
time to wake up and take pride once again in our craftsmanship, work ethic,
and especially our UNION.
John F. Kennedy
once said: “The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.” Guess
what? At 12% market share the sun is no longer shining and we better start
fixing our roof.
A house divided
can not stand…
So our house
divided needs to become a house united before it’s too late. |
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