Work-based learning experience to be required for graduation in Henrico

Beginning next year, Henrico County high school students will be required to have a work-based learning experience in order to graduate high school.

Starting with the class of 2024, students either will have to have a career and technical education certification, take a certain number of AP or IB classes, or take on a work-based learning experience in order to graduate.

A High-Quality Work Based Learning experience, or HQWBL, can be one of several things. During a presentation at the Nov. 10 Henrico School Board work session, Career Business Partnership Specialist Beverly Cocke told board members that those experiences must meet certain criteria: being aligned with a student’s career interest; being performed in partnership with a local business or organization; and having a certain duration.

Students in dual enrollment classes also may meet graduation requirements, according to Director of High School Education Thomas Ferrell.

The new requirements are part of an ongoing plan to have all students ready for their future careers by the time they graduate high school.

“We aim for all students to have plans when graduating – whether higher education, employment, or enlistment in the military,” said HCPS Director of Assessment, Research and Evaluation Tiffany Hinton.

According to senior surveys from last year, 78% of students in Henrico’s high schools had plans for higher education after high school, while 13% had plans for employment and 8% planned to enlist in the military.

Counselors at high schools generally have one-on-one meetings with seniors to determine their future plans, according to Ferrell.

* * *

In other matters, HCPS Chief of Operations Lenny Pritchard provided board members with an update on planned school renovations, which are part of the district’s capital improvement plan, or CIP.

According to Pritchard, all of the bond projects from 2016 have been completed, with the exception of a planned renovation of Adams Elementary School.

That project will begin in February and is planned to be completed by the end of 2024, he said.

The renovation of Adams is the latest in a series of school renovations that is expected to extend through the 2030s.

“If we remain on track, we will have rebuilt or renovated every school in Henrico county built before 1990.” Pritchard said.

Some of the next school construction projects that HCPS will take on include expansion of ACE centers, which should allow 900 more students to participate in CTE programs, according to Pritchard.

The Hermitage High School ACE center renovation project will break ground ‘within the month’ according to Pritchard, but will not yet be finished by the beginning of next school year. Until the project is completed, students at the center may have to take classes in trailers or in other school buildings.

The project will cost $20 million dollars, while a planned expansion will cost an additional $13 million. Another ACE center renovation, at Highland Springs High School, also will cost $20 million.

HCPS officials also plan to replace the oldest playground equipment in the district, in order to achieve their goal of replacing playgrounds every 11 to 12 years.

Previously, PTAs had to raise money for playground renovations, but as they have increased in price, the school system has taken on the cost. There are 32 planned playground renovations happening across the county, according to Pritchard.

In June, the Henrico Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal from the school system to allocate $1.5 million in meals tax funds for playground renovations. Supervisors agreed that the meals tax money was to be used for critical school needs and that playground upgrades didn’t rise to that level.

* * *

Anya Sczerzenie is the Henrico Citizen’s education reporter and a Report for America corps member. Make a tax-deductible donation to support her work, and RFA will match it dollar for dollar. Sign up here for her free weekly education newsletter.