By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

The Benicia Unified School District Board of Trustees on Thursday heard a presentation about a district program that connects special education students with local businesses — to the benefit, its coordinator said, of both.

Marivic Magallanes explained how the state-funded WorkAbility program offers not only individual education plans to Benicia and Liberty High School students, but also a Community Based Instruction program that helps special-needs teens and young men and women make the transition to adult life.

“Last year we served 164 students and placed 22 in work experience, and that resulted in four direct hires,” Magallanes said. “This year we have placed 30 students in work experience with 20 local businesses.

“We’re constantly visiting businesses and trying to get them on board.”

Among the Benicia businesses that participate in WorkAbility are the Capitol Café, Round Table, and Bombshell Hair & Ink.

Morgan Diaz, a senior at Benicia High and participant in WorkAbility, shared her experience with the board, saying the program “helps young adults like myself to feel what it is like to have the responsibility and feel accomplished with a job.

“They set you up with a local business here in Benicia that interests you,” Diaz said. “For example, they helped me get a job at Bombshell Hair & Ink because of my interest in cosmetology as a career.”

She said since going to work at Bombshell, 120 East G St., she has received a lot of tips and encouragement to pursue her career goals.

In a related matter, the board also heard a presentation on Career Tech Education by Jay Speck, Solano County superintendent, and Janet Harden, county assistant superintendent of human resources workforce development.

“For many years we’ve talked about the importance of graduating from high school, and over the last few years the conversation has really expanded to graduating from high school and be career- and college-ready,” Speck said. “And I think intuitively when people heard that they said, ‘Yeah, that makes sense, but what does it mean to be college- and career-ready?’”

Speck spoke about a change in requirements in the job market. “When I came out of college, about 30 percent of the jobs required a BA. That is pretty much the same today. What’s different is, about 35 percent of the jobs now require some certificate or training beyond a high school diploma. That was not true 40 or 50 years ago.”

Harden presented a set of criteria when districts consider bringing in career pathway programs. “Is there a demand, and will it get the students, businesses and the community involved?

“When we’re looking at adding new courses or pathways, we do need to have students who want to be in the class,” she said.

Other criteria she listed:

• Qualified teachers. This includes having appropriate credentials, Harden said, and “often we want to make sure that they … have some recent industry experience so that they really know what the industry needs and what the industry needs us to bring back into the classroom.”

• Appropriate facilities.

• Funding. “What are the startup costs for the equipment for getting things up and going, and then what are the ongoing costs to sustain? … You have to have a plan.”

• Partnerships and collaboration. Harden said the support of the community, business industry partners, and higher education and vocational training schools is key. “The collaboration is really crucial in all aspects of providing high-quality learning,” she said.

“It can’t be done by itself, we have to bring in active partners.”

In other matters, Chief Business Official Tim Rahill presented the board a cost framework for removing materials from the high school multi-purpose room.

The cinderblock walls of the room are skim-coated with a plaster material that contains asbestos fibers, Rahill told trustees, and covered with a paint containing lead. “At the time of the construction (prior to 1978) it was permissible,” he said.

The board unanimously approved setting as a maximum cost for the work $165,000.

The project would be funded by the school district’s school facilities fund and would occur on or after July 5, the last day of summer school, and be complete before Aug. 17, the first day of the new school year, Rahill said.

Trustee Dana Dean was absent from the meeting.