ESC Lake Erie West Business Advisory Council
and ESC Lake Erie West Governing Board Joint Statement

March 1, 2025

Primary Contact:

Secondary Contact:

Sandra C. Frisch, Superintendent, ESC Lake Erie West, sfrisch@esclakeeriewest.org
Angela Dietrich, Workforce, Community, and School Liaison, ESC Lake Erie West; adietrich@esclakeeriewest.org

The ESC Lake Erie West Business Advisory Council has grown in the past year to serve seven school districts: Anthony Wayne Local Schools, Maumee City Schools, Ottawa Hills Local Schools, Rossford Schools, Springfield Local Schools, Sylvania Schools and Washington Local Schools. Representatives from all member school partners serve on the Business Advisory Council along with community partners and business and industry members.

ESC Lake Erie West Business Advisory Council Goals

1.	 To provide guidance to area school districts on economic changes and job market challenges and opportunities.

2. To support schools in embedding critical employment/life skills students will need to succeed in business and industry such as reliability, critical thinking, communication and time management.

3. To create or align curriculum that will introduce and reinforce critical employment skills needed in business and industry on local, regional, state and national levels.

4. To develop relationships between education and business that will provide a sustainable well-trained workforce.

5. To promote work based learning opportunities as defined by the Ohio Department of Education & Workforce to include the following: job placement, pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship, remote or virtual placement, entrepreneurship, school based enterprise, simulated work environment.

Initiatives for the 2024-2025 school year are in progress:

Future Fusion is a collaborative initiative with NWO Junior Achievement. The ESC Lake Erie West BAC will host a parent event embedded within the May 7th JA Inspire career exploration event. A communication packet to encourage parent attendance at JA Inspire has been shared with the school districts including the following:

•	A video featuring parents and a student who previously attended JA Inspire has been produced and is linked on a promotional postcard. The postcard will be shared with parents and community members through each of our member schools.
•	A set of short messages to share at school events and in school communications.
•	Career Talk: A guide for talking to students about their future careers. This is especially helpful if parents are able to talk to their child after the experience at JA Inspire or other career events.
•	Did you Know? Several statements to provide additional career, college and future financial information to students and parents.

Future Fusion is currently at a level 8/10 for complete implementation. Challenges to implementing this initiative continue to be reaching out to parents and gaining parental participation. We have developed a few tools to remedy these challenges with the parent video, post card, and Career Talk. The goal will be fully accomplished by May 7, 2025.

Teacher CAMP (Creating Authentic Meaningful Partnerships) 2025 is on track to provide another successful business/industry immersion experience for area teachers. While the basic format remains the same, each year, Teacher CAMP is revised in response to participant feedback and reflect current Northwest Ohio employment needs. The five-day camp features field trips and guest speakers representing Northwest Ohio’s most in demand employment sectors; Health Care, Construction, Manufacturing, and Hospitality. Participants will be offered three hours of Ashland University college credit at no cost through a grant.

Business and Industry partners have been secured and the schedule for Teacher CAMP is set. Fliers and applications have been sent to area school districts and several teachers have applied to participate in this summer’s Teacher CAMP. With the planning, scheduling and credit hours secured, Teacher CAMP is currently at a level 8/10 on the scale of accomplishment.

The Aspiring Teacher Internship was recently added to the BAC of ESCLEW program of work for 2024-2025. The Aspiring Teacher Internship is designed for High School students who are interested in exploring a career in education. High school students will earn a stipend as they work with the licensed teachers for a week during the Challenger Learning Center Camps. The Challenger Learning Center Camp curriculum is designed for elementary through grade 8 students with an integrated approach to involve students in STEM activities. Interns will assist the highly qualified teachers in facilitating STEM lessons. In addition, interns will attend pre

and post seminars to learn more about educational professions and to reflect on their internship experience.

Challenges in implementation of this initiative include funding the student internship experiences. In collaboration with the challenger Learning Center of Lake Erie West, a BAC grant to support this program has been submitted. High School students who are interested in the Aspiring Teacher Internship are typically very involved in community and employment activities throughout the summer. The stipend for participation helps to address this concern so that students can prioritize the internship opportunity. Planning and scheduling for the Aspiring Teacher Internship has been completed. As we wait on funding approval, this initiative is accomplished at a 5/10.

Career Quest Challenge was added to our plan as an initiative to directly reach students as they develop professional skills. After much consideration and exploration, the BAC decided to utilize the 2024-2025 school year for planning and target implementation for the 2025-2026 school year. We are using the format and outline of the Amazing Shake program to develop this program. Schools have expressed interest in participation and a sub-committee has been formed to develop a series of challenges that local schools may utilize in preparing students for the competition with the goal of having local competition materials available to districts in the fall of 2025. Local competitions are likely to take place in late winter/early spring 2025-2026 with the BAC sponsored competition to follow later in the spring. This program is at a 3/10 in completion, however we expect to be fully implemented for local competitions by the end of 2025 and the BAC competition by the end of the 2025-2026 school year.

Expanding Partnerships: With two additional schools joining the BAC this school year, we are focused on ensuring that all districts have business and industry representation on the council. Districts have been asked to bring along at least one new business or industry partner to the BAC meetings. New partnerships include the following:

•	Center for Advanced Manufacturing •	Sylvania Chamber of Commerce
•	Sylvania Rotary

The ESC Lake Erie West Business Advisory Council continues to strengthen and expand partnerships to enhance opportunities for schools, community organizations, and business and industry to work together. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other area BACs and to offer membership to additional schools served by the Esc Lake Erie West.