Incoming Peoria Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Bell said he wants District 150 to work hand-in-hand with the business community in preparing students to meet evolving workforce needs.
“I’m going to ask, ‘What do you need from us? How can we ask you to come in and be stronger partners with us?,” said Bell, whose leadership term officially starts next Wednesday.
“Is it enhancing our internship partnerships that we’ve had, our external partnerships? Coming in and mentoring our students, tutoring them, being reading buddies in the elementary schools?
“Those are the types of questions I’m going to ask the business community, because we in Peoria Public Schools, we’re ready to really take it to the next level — because our children, they need it. The data says they need it, and we’re here to give them everything they need to be job and career ready.”
Bell delivered the keynote address Thursday at a State of Greater Peoria Education forum presented by the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce.
He said one key is getting students to take advantage of existing workforce readiness training opportunities and to begin to consider potential career pathways at a younger age.
“It’s just making sure that we enhance those and that students and families are aware that they exist,” he said. “We want students to learn earlier than waiting to get to high school, while in our primary schools: ‘What do you really want to do, and what can we in Peoria do to get you ready for that particular career?’
“So it’s a strengthening of the partnerships with our business community to ensure that we have those pathways firmly laid out and implemented.”
Following his address, Bell joined new Deputy Superintendent Renee Andrews and Illinois Central College’s Arnitria Shaw in a panel discussion around workforce readiness approaches.
“We really need to look at all facets of our district and really drill down and see: What do we really want to happen? What are our goals for our students and for our school district?,” said Andrews. “Because when we know that, then we’re able to communicate that with our business partners and community partners, so that their time is well spent and we’re all working towards the same goal.”
Shaw, who also represents the Regional Workforce Alliance, said a recently completed community survey focused on identifying the types of skills that best prepare young people to enter the job market.
“Employers are looking for folks who have the ability to learn and are willing to do so. Of course, it’s important what they learn, because we have openings in the manufacturing sector; we have openings in healthcare; we have openings in education,” she said.
“One thing I am proud of when it comes to our regional employers is that they are very much so willing to help support, whether it’s apprenticeships, whether it’s funding, and that’s more of what we need to look at.”
Bell echoed the need to provide students with transferrable critical thinking and “soft skills,” and to embrace the benefits of artificial intelligence while avoiding pitfalls.
“We want to make sure that we have a firm grasp of artificial intelligence before we have it run our lives,” said Bell. “We want our kids to be able to understand it so they can play a part, because there’s that old maxim: If you’re not sitting at the table, you’re on the menu.”
The Chamber’s conversation on education served as a temporary adjustment from the annual State of the City address, which is expected to return next year.
Chamber president Jessica Linder Gallo said this year’s event offered an opportunity to explore both how the business community can assist education and express what it needs from the schools.
“It’s collecting some information on really what can help bring the business community and the education community together to make all of our students the most successful they can be in Greater Peoria,” she said.
Bell said he and Andrews are “thought partners” who have already started in their new positions as part of a transition period ahead of their formal July 1 employment date. With Andrews taking on a newly created position, Bell described the pairing as a “symbiotic relationship.”
He said his top priorities as he assumes district leadership from Sharon Kherat are improving overall literacy and reducing chronic absenteeism. He also said getting students into the workforce is one way of helping to reduce criminal behavior among juveniles.
“If children are gainfully employed, they will not have time to, shall we say, go waywardly and dabble in things that are not beneficial for themselves or their family,” he said. “So, enhancing their job readiness skills will definitely enable them to not be on the streets and instead doing something more productive, where they’re also earning a living.”
