West Liberty High School’s Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates (iJAG) program just completed a highly successful year, school board members learned at the Aug. 19 meeting.
iJAG instructor Merideth Schanz gave a presentation on the 2023-24 year of the program, including the news that 99 percent of students enrolled in the program graduated from high school in May, significantly higher than the state average of 90 percent.
Schanz explained that iJAG is a state-funded program, with 50 percent of the money coming from the state government and the rest from private contributions. Although West Liberty currently offers iJAG at the high school level, the program also provides support for middle school students in other districts. Areas of interest include career exploration, character and self-development, communication and technology skills, critical thinking and productivity, life skills, self-advocacy and conflict resolution, and work-based learning, which Schanz said has been a new focus of West Liberty’s program. She recently became certified as a work-based learning supervisor. “Hopefully the goal would be to expand those opportunities, not only for students who take iJAG as a class, but as a whole for our high school, to expand the work-based learning opportunities we have between West Liberty, Iowa City and Muscatine. So that’s kind of an initiative that we’ve been working on this year is trying to really develop that to be more beneficial for our students, and to expand that for them.”
She said that one of the most important goals of iJAG is to meet students where they are academically, and to realize that not every student has a goal of going to a four-year college. “What I really focus on is tailoring it individually to each or our students and not making them feel like they’re pigeon-holed into a certain direction. So, if a four-year degree is a plan for one of our students, then absolutely we are going to work with them on what steps they need to get there. But also, realizing that not every student is four-year collegebound, and to be able to give them the resources they need to pursue other avenues, whether it be a community college, whether it be a trade school, whether it’s going directly into the workforce.
“I’m finding that we do have a lot more students that are apprehensive about pursuing a four-year degree right out of high school. A lot of our students don’t necessarily know where their lives are headed right after high school, and so, being able to have those conversations with them, and make them fee confident in their decisions. That just because you don’t choose a four-year college route at 18 doesn’t mean you can’t go back, doesn’t mean there aren’t other opportunities for you.”
Schanz said another important part of her job is to be able to have one-on-one conversations with students about their options, especially when those students don’t necessarily know what their goals are. She told the board that she has met with students who were “just going through the motions” in the lead-up to graduation and suddenly realized they didn’t know what their next step was.
Students have had many opportunities to do internships and job shadowing, and Schanz said those have been valuable experiences, especially when students realize they do not want to pursue that career path. She said it’s worthwhile for the students to have that realization before they end up going to a four-year college, only to realize they may have made a wrong decision.
Statewide, iJAG is limited to 60 students per high school program, spread among juniors and seniors. An advisory committee, which includes administrators, counselors and select teachers within the district, selects potential candidates on a Need, Want, Benefit model. “My personal belief is that every student needs it, and every student can benefit from it, so that makes our job a little bit tricky,” said Schanz. Considerations include credit count, other services the student may be receiving at school that might be a better fit than iJAG, and potential barriers that may prevent the student from becoming successful.
In addition to the high graduation rate at West Liberty, Schanz reported increased academic achievement, with the median grade point average for graduating students at 3.11, up from an average of 2.63 at the start of their junior year. “We’re really proud and excited for them that they’ve made those strides in their education,” she said. She added that the program also impacted three students who otherwise might have dropped out of school without specific plans. All three students graduated in May.
Schanz also said she was excited to report that all the students that graduated in May did so with specific post-high school plans, whether going straight into the workforce or going to trade school or college. “We are really excited that we don’t have any of those stragglers that are still kind of in limbo. One hundred percent of them have a direction at this point, so we are really happy with that.”
Once students graduate from the program, iJAG provides follow-up support for a year, so Schanz will meet with each of the students once a month. She gave examples of support, including helping students find new jobs if necessary, and helping with scholarship renewal.
Schanz did express some frustration over some of the limitations of the iJAG program, including the enrollment numbers and the fact that the program works from the top down. She explained that the program really only intends to serve juniors and seniors, so if there was an expansion to freshmen and sophomores, it was expected those underclassmen would continue the program all the way through. “You know, if you think about our total population, we’re only hitting our juniors and seniors, and my first year, it was a little bit intimidating, because we had these juniors and seniors that honestly could have used the support as a freshman or a sophomore. And I think we would have avoided some of these kinds of tough situation at the very end, worrying about credits, worrying about if they’re going to graduate. If we had the option to reach them as a freshman or a sophomore … I do think that’s what we’re missing out is that we’re not getting these students until they’re juniors and seniors in high school, and to be honest, sometimes it’s just too late. Sometimes they’ve just had those two years that they’ve struggled so hard that by the time we get to them, we’re limited in what resources we can provide to them to get them to graduation on time.”
Nineteen incoming seniors will return to the program, with 67 students enrolled in this year’s program. “We are seven students over our maximum limitation … oopsie,” said Schanz. “I have a really hard time telling a student ‘no.’ If I have a student come to me and say that they want to be in the program and they see the benefit and they really want it, I really can’t turn them away. And I’ll take on the extra mental load and physical load that it takes to have them, just so that they don’t feel like they’re getting pushed to the wayside for another student.”
Activities already planned for this year include two leadership conferences and three fundraisers, which Schanz said teach the students many skills, including money management. She also said the students are looking forward to the program’s third annual community service project, helping at the elementary field day.
ELC property conveyed to city
The school board conveyed the old ELC building to the City of West Liberty, in exchange for the value received from the city providing electrical equipment and labor for a transformer at the new athletic complex, or approximately $27,000.
No changes to usage fees
Speaking on behalf of athletic director Adam Loria, board secretary Abby Ortiz reported no recommendations to change the usage fees on the athletic complex, as the rates were just changed last year. “At this time, he feels like those are still pretty good numbers. I know he said he would probably want to review it again later this winter, early spring, because we did have some baseball and softball usage out there,” she said referencing the fact that other teams, including college teams, had used the field for practices and games last spring.”
“It’s a bit of a double-edged sword,” said board president Jacob Burroughs. “You want to encourage people coming here …”
“But you want to make it worth it, too,” agreed Ortiz.
Personnel
The board accepted the resignation of elementary paraprofessional Barbara Jackson. Sarah Hayes was hired as an elementary paraprofessional at $16 per hour.
The next board meeting will be Sept. 16.