A revamped Woodward High School would offer academic courses and sharpen the skills of the city's future nurses, dental hygienists, civil engineers and construction managers if a committee's recommendations to the city's public school district are adopted.

        After six months of surveys, research and planning, a group of business leaders, educators and community members on Monday will propose a career-technical “Campus of Excellence” at Woodward High School, to open in 2003-04.

        “The idea is this is a high school where the career emphasis is to get kids interested in education, not just prepare them for a job,” said Kent Friel, who co-chaired the committee. Mr. Friel is senior vice president of Lee Hecht Harrison,a career services firm in Kenwood.

        Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Steven Adamowski last year formed the committee to study Cincinnati's vocational needs and possibilities for career and technical education at Woodward.

        The 18-person committee will recommend to the Board of Education that Woodward be transformed into a campus with four separate learning centers of about 400 to 600 students each.

        One would house ninth- grade students who focus primarily on core academic courses while being introduced to career opportunities.

        The other three learning centers would be for students in grades 10-12 who would select from three career paths:

        • Health occupations.

        • Advanced manufacturing.

        • Construction sciences.

        Students in those grades would also continue to take academic courses. “This is not a vocational high school,” Mr. Friel said.

        However, the school would prepare students to enter a career right out of high school, he said, if they

        chose that route.

        Some of the other career opportunities at Woodward could include dietetics, physical and occupational therapy, robotics and engineering technology.

        Woodward is one of five low-performing high schools in the district being redesigned. The district wants to improve its dismal graduation rate of 57.6 percent in its high schools.

        Recommendations will be sent to the board's program committee, which can make revisions before forwarding the proposal to the full board for its approval. Mr. Friel said he hopes that process would be complete within a month.

        Board member Florence Newell said she is impressed by what she hears.

        “This does two important things — prepares kids for the workplace right out of high school, but also prepares them for college, so it doesn't eliminate their option to go to college,” she said.

        Committee members are trying to line up partnerships with local businesses and trade groups to offer internships and mentoring for students and teachers. They also have been working with a local college to offer college courses at the high school campus.

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