Nine school districts—Avella, Burgettstown, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, McGuffey, Peters Township, Trinity, and Washington—united in 1967 to form the Western Area Vocational-Technical School, known today as Western Area Career & Technology Center. Western Area Career & Technology Center is part of Intermediate Unit I, which encompasses Washington, Fayette, and Greene Counties. Our facility is considered a leader in technology among the sending schools and offers certification programs.
Washington County is in the midst of transition from a farming and rural setting to one in which technology is rapidly growing and prospering. As more students and families recognize the importance of career and technical education, the sending districts and Western Area Career & Technology Center have the opportunity to work in a more collaborative manner for the welfare of the students and communities of the region.
OPERATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
The Western Area Career & Technology faculty and staff realize their responsibility as part of the effort to sustain regional economic growth. Our first duty is to provide our students the training and education necessary to ensure their success in tomorrow’s world. In addition, our existing businesses and industries require an educated, capable workforce that will guarantee continued viability. The services we provide and the individuals we educate and train must have the skills that will enable new businesses and industries to locate and thrive within our region.
As the workplace becomes more competitive, our completing students must have a variety of higher order academic, technical, and workplace skills and the willingness to use them if they are to succeed. That is why we have joined the High Schools That Work initiative. This data-driven program aimed at improving student achievement will enable us to identify our weaknesses while we focus our efforts toward those areas that require improvement. Already we have worked to improve our integration and reinforcement of academic skill and the acquisition of new industry-recognized certifications for our technical students. We have opened the enrollment of our academic courses and improved our offerings. To serve a variety of student needs, we now offer online academic coursework through the University of Nebraska.
I would hope that our students become first in the minds of local employers when they are in need of employees. We will certainly do our part to make sure that they are competent.
Dr. Joseph P. Iannetti
Director of Vocational Education