Career Academy School

Lanier Career Center FAQ

What is the Lanier Career Center?
How was Lanier Career Center developed?
Who will operate the Lanier Career Center?
Will the establishment of Lanier Career Center affect the traditional high schools that operate during the day?
How does the Hall County-Gainesville Evening High School relate to Lanier Career Center?
How will the Lanier Career Center benefit Hall County School System?
How will the Lanier Career Center benefit the community?
How will the Lanier Career Center benefit students?
Will the cost be greater to educate students at the Lanier Career Center?
How many students may be served by Lanier Career Center?
What students will be served by the Lanier Career Center?
Why cannot the traditional school programs meet the needs of these students? Why is a separate school needed?
Will it change diploma programs that Evening High now offers?
Do the programs of study vary from the day school?
Are students who earn a high school diploma from Evening High required to pass all the Georgia High School Graduation Tests?
How will the new program enhance the existing evening high school program?
What other benefits are to be gained by the partnership with Lanier Technical College?
What will students have to do to enter Lanier Career Center?
What if the student does not do well on the ASSET test?
What if the student does not do well on the ASSET retest?
Can they continue to remediate their deficiencies if they want a high school diploma?
Why will the GED preparation program be offered?
How will the student develop a plan for graduation?
How will the Lanier Career Center relate to QUEST?

1. The Lanier Career Center is an extension of the existing Hall County-Gainesville Evening High School. A partnership with Lanier Technical College provides technical courses on site. The Lanier Career Center brings together other community partners who support students in their quest for a high school diploma.

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2. The initial meeting to discuss the concept was hosted by Hall County School System in 1999 with representatives from Lanier Technical College, Gainesville College, Gainesville City Schools, Adult Education, United Way of Hall County, Department of Labor, Ninth District Opportunity, and DHR District 2 Public Health.

Other meetings followed during which time a tentative plan for the center was developed with the Center being envisioned as a collaborative effort of a number of partners, primarily, Hall County School System, Lanier Technical College, Georgia Department of Labor, and Ninth District Opportunity. The Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce members endorsed the idea of the Center during an annual retreat on improving the economic development of our community. In Fall 2002, the voters approved the use of sales tax revenue for purchase of land and building a facility. A committee of citizens assisted in developing a business plan for the implementation of the Center and in interviewing architects for the site planning with recommendations to the Hall County School System Board of Education who made the final decision. Groundbreaking and construction started in August 2003 with a projected opening date of July 2004.

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3. The Lanier Career Center will be operated by the Hall County School System as far as ownership of land and facility and employment of staff for the secondary program. Collaborative agreements will establish the working relationships between Hall County School System and the other entities that will share the facility or contribute services to the students.

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4. No. The Lanier Career Center will not replace the technical and vocational courses now offered at the traditional high schools. Each day high school will continue to provide comprehensive course offerings for its students. The Lanier Career Center will not be a centralized location for only technical courses.

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5. The Hall County-Gainesville Evening High School will be incorporated into the Center. Plans are in place that will expand the course offerings through extended hours of operation. Evening High is accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and will continue to off an array of both academic and technical courses in order to retain its accreditation and to issue diplomas.

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The Lanier Career Center will allow Hall County School System to serve students who are not being served in a way that addresses their specific barriers to high school completion.
The Lanier Career Center will allow students, who may otherwise be unsuccessful in the traditional school environment, find success in academic and communication skills.
The Lanier Career Center will also allow Hall County School System to have a place to develop nontraditional approaches to education to respond to the changing needs of the community. For example, Lanier Career Center could be used to develop on-line courses, correspondence courses, or a program to build a bridge between public schools and home school parents and children.
The Lanier Career Center would give the Board of Education a place to implement programs that address specific needs in an expeditious manner.
The Lanier Career Center will strengthen partnerships with community agencies and supplement support services to help students stay in school through these partnerships.

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The Lanier Career Center will benefit Hall County by encouraging more students to finish their high school diploma program.
The Lanier Career Center will provide a focus for attracting new business and industry by demonstrating the community's commitment to improving the workforce.
The Lanier Career Center will train graduates for specific employment in fields that are needed by area employers.
The Lanier Career Center will maintain a close relationship with the economic development community to respond to employment needs changes.
The Lanier Career Center will work with community agencies whose goals are to improve the status of high-risk youth and by providing one place for citizens to contact for questions concerning non-traditional educational opportunities.

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The Lanier Career Center will provide a "seamless educational path" between high school and technical college for students. This means that a student may complete all requirements for a technical certificate from Lanier Technical College as part of the high school diploma program. Upon graduation, a student will move into postsecondary study without any interruption or without any stop/start. The student will have opportunities to meet Lanier Technical College instructors and staff and develop relationships with them that will give them confidence in pursuing postsecondary education.
The Lanier Career Center will give students opportunities to demonstrate their abilities while sustaining maximum academic achievement.
The Lanier Career Center will give students opportunities to translate specific interests and skills into a program of study for a high school diploma.
The Lanier Career Center will allow teachers to use the core courses as springboards into more career-focused learning.
The Lanier Career Center will give the community support services an opportunity to collaborate and coordinate services that will remove barriers to high school completion for many students.
The Lanier Career Center will provide a more personal learning environment in which teachers and students have opportunities to develop mutual respect and understanding.
The Lanier Career Center will give individualized assistance to students in special circumstances.

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9. It is anticipated that costs will not be greater for a student to attend the Lanier Career Center than for the student in the traditional day program. Costs associated with the day program (athletics, extra-curricular, transportation, etc.) will not be part of the Lanier Career Center's operation. Although the student/teacher ratio will be lower, most teachers will be on an hourly contract pay thus saving the system the cost of fringe benefits. By cooperating with Lanier Tech College, the school will be able to offer technical courses at no instructional or equipment cost to Hall County School System which will also reduce the per student cost.

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10. Lanier Career Center is planned as a small secondary school for 400 or less students. It is important to maintain a small enrollment in order to give individual service to students who often have great barriers that prevent academic success.

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11. The Lanier Career Center will serve the same students who currently attend Evening High. These students represent the following constituencies:

Students, with average to above average abilities, who do not "fit" into the traditional school program. These are students who never see themselves as valued members of the day school population.
Students who experience problems that become barriers to academic success: family issues, frequent family moves, economic difficulties, parenting.
Students whose learning styles are better suited for smaller class sizes or more individual attention.
Students with some behavioral problems that usually disappear in a small school environment.
Students who commit disciplinary infractions that mandate removal from the traditional program but that allow them to continue in school.

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12. Since 1995, the high school completion rate for Hall County School System has increased from approximately 59% to 75%. It is difficult to determine the extent of cause and effect but the evening school tracks day students who stay on track toward graduation and, up to 2001, over 400 students have graduated with their class because they made up courses at night. Therefore, the Evening High appears to meet an important need within the community.

The Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University researches and evaluates programs for dropout prevention. They list alternative schools, community collaboration, reading and writing programs, family involvement, individualized instruction, career education and workforce readiness, and conflict resolution as major strategies that have positive effects on the dropout rate. A large high school cannot provide the focus on these strategies for the specific population in need whereas a school built around these principles can do so.

Finally, traditional schools have more diversified student activities that focus on athletics, music, theater, and clubs and that require the energies of the school staff. The Lanier Career Center will focus only on helping students complete high school. Staff energies will be committed to integrating community services at the school level in order to remove the barriers that often interfere with students' continuing in school. Currently, Evening High has a Medicaid person who takes applications for PeachCare and Medicaid, has health screenings, has juvenile court probation services, and has public transportation to the school. It also uses a number of United Way Agencies to provide support groups, mentoring, and counseling. The Junior League places volunteers at the school. These services will continue. In addition, every effort will be made to incorporate Mental Health and Family and Children Services on campus. Ninth District Opportunity will provide Early Headstart, Headstart, and pre-Kindergarten classes on site. Parenting students will use these services for childcare while they attend school. Finally, there will be GED preparation programs in conjunction with Lanier Technical College Adult Education Program. 13. No. Evening High will continue to offer College Preparatory and Technical Preparatory Programs of Study to fulltime evening students and will offer opportunities to day students to make up courses or to earn new credit.

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14. Yes. The main difference is in the number of electives that a student must earn. Evening High uses the state requirements for earning a high school diploma: 22 units. The differences for the state requirements are for the tech prep diploma, students earn three Carnegie units in one area of technical concentration plus one related area and for the college preparatory diploma, students earn three Carnegie units in science.

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15.Yes.

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16.Currently Evening High offers only two areas of vocational and technical education: Marketing Education and Family and Consumer Science. Some Evening High students return to day school for specific technical and vocational courses in order to complete a diploma program. The partnership with Lanier Tech will allow students to have more choices for technical diplomas. The following is a tentative list for areas of concentration: Computer Maintenance, Operations, Applications, and Engineering; Fire Science Technology; Child Development; Certified Nursing Assistant; and Pharmacy Technology.

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17.Students will graduate from Evening High and will receive a Certificate from Lanier Tech at the same time if they successfully complete both programs of study.

Graduates will be ready for the workforce by having earned this certificate.

Graduates with a certificate may continue at Lanier Technical to complete a diploma program, thus getting a headstart on training for employment.

Lanier Tech will provide teachers and equipment for the courses taught at Lanier Career Center.

Students jointly enrolled at both schools will have the opportunity to develop a relationship that will make postsecondary study more likely.

Instructors at Lanier Tech are industry certified.

Students will meet Lanier Tech's requirements for admission, class behavior, and attendance.

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18.Day students will follow current procedure of obtaining a School Approval Form from their high school counselor that lists the specific course needed.

Fulltime Evening High students will submit a transcript and other documents along with an application form before taking the ASSET, a standardized norm-referenced test used by Lanier Technical College as an admission requirement. If a student is under age sixteen, then the base school will request admittance of an underage student by completing the necessary form and submitting it to the associate superintendent for instruction for approval before the student may enroll. This process is currently in place and will continue.

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19.If the student does not score high enough to pass the admission requirements for Lanier Technical College, then the student will be advised to take basic skills course work prior to retaking the ASSET. (Lanier Tech has requirements that govern how often a student may retest and these requirements will be followed.) These courses may be used as academic electives for credit or may be used toward instructional requirements that precede taking the GED, if the student decides to pursue that diploma.

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20.If a student takes the ASSET retest and still performs below the minimum score for admittance to Lanier Technical College, then the student will be at a point for making a decision to continue to pursue a high school diploma or enroll in the GED preparation program or pursue an occupation that does not require a high school diploma.

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21.Yes. Students may continue to remediate their deficiencies for a maximum of four sessions. If they cannot pass the ASSET after four sessions of concentrated efforts to remediate their academic deficiencies, then they will receive guidance services in regard to their other options.

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22.The GED preparation program offers a viable alternative for youth who want to have a high school equivalency diploma. Lanier Career Center will focus on the needs of youth and will be able will continue at the Lanier Career Center because it offers another educational path to postsecondary education and training for youth and young adults. The focus for these services will be on students who in the age range of 16 to 20.

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23.Upon enrollment, the student and school counselor will review previous transcript and determine the number of units necessary for graduation in either the College Prep or Technical Prep program and the actual courses needed.

Evening High offers some basic electives that all students are asked to take: Workplace Readiness, Computer Applications, and Word Processing. Therefore, it is anticipated that most students will be in school for several sessions prior to declaring an area of concentration for a Tech Prep diploma. During this period, the counselor will hold advisement sessions with students to inform them of their opportunities. In addition, every effort will be made to have the students meet the Lanier Tech instructors prior to taking a class from them.

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24.The QUEST Council is a collaboration between Hall County School System and Gainesville City Schools and the business community as it relates to the Apprenticeship Program. The council facilitates communication between the schools and business community through regular meetings and this will continue as it has in the past. Students from the Lanier Career Center will have access to the programs sponsored by QUEST.