The construction class at Greene County High School has been resuscitated for the second trimester, although its future for the third trimester still isn’t assured.
The board of education told instructor Chuck Wenthold to move forward with the class after he reported there are seven students enrolled in the class for the second trimester, and there’s a possibility of two more.
In previous years, the class has met all three trimesters and has built an entire house. The last two school years the class has had challenges, including a late start in the fall of 2012 and low enrollment. The house that was started by the class during the 2012-13 school year is finally expected to be ready to sell next month.
The class was scuttled for the first trimester when only two students enrolled. The class meets three class periods a day, making it difficult for many students to fit into their six period class schedule.
The students will not build a house, but will work on smaller projects and on the Habitat for Humanity house rehab project on W. Washington St in Jefferson. Wenthold intends hopes to complete course objectives in an Intro to Residential Construction and either a course in site layout or in concrete theory.
Wenthold was unable to verify that his second trimester students would take the course again for the third trimester.
Board members Sam Harding and Teresa Hagen have been the most vocal in their concerns about the class. Hagen urged him to have available at the Nov. 12 board meeting a work schedule for the entire trimester (the trimester starts Nov. 13), but Wenthold explained the work at the Habitat project is dependent on what the adult volunteers accomplish on their Saturday work bees. “I want seven kids to have a good experience if they’re taking half their school day for this,” Hagen told Wenthold.
