Business leaders and employers must take more of a role in preparing students for the world of work, Education Summit IV participants were told Thursday.

"I have accepted over the past year that the educational system no longer provides me with the kind of employees I need to provide service to my customers," said Gary Warness, vice president of operations at Othy.

"I, as an employer, as a business leader in this community, am just as responsible for providing the education and development of our citizens as our educational system is."

Educators should prepare students for lifelong learning, creativity and teamwork, Warness said. Companies also can provide educational opportunities, such as Othy's well-attended in-house courses in anatomy, business, nutrition and metallurgy.

There is a cost attached when a company offers in-house education, Warness said, but "this is about value," he said. "It's not about costing money, it's about making money."

Helping students make the transition from school to the workplace, and helping provide qualified workers for the business community was the focus of the fourth education summit.

Approximately 160 educators, parents, business leaders and students attended "Education to Careers" at 2517 Restaurant Thursday morning. The keynote speech by Dr. Rob McNaughton, superintendent of Penn-Harris-Madison and chairman of the four-county Education to Careers governing board, stressed creating opportunities for students to explore careers before joining the workforce.

Some students can't or don't want to attend four-year colleges, McNaughton said, and those students should have other options.

"This isn't about watering down academic standards but about expanding them," he said.

The federal government has granted $2.2 million over five years for the 23 school corporations in St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall and Kosciusko counties. The funds are to be used to develop education to careers plans in each county, but decisions are made at the local school level and the government has no further input in how the funds are spent, he said.

Representatives of all five school districts in Kosciusko County described what they're doing in each district to promote career-based education.

For example, Whitko offers job shadowing for teachers during the summer, and internships for students during the school year. Akron Elementary, in Tippecanoe Valley school district, starts their partners in education program in the early grades, and pairs each business with a specific teacher.

Already in place with all five school corporations in the county is the gold card program, which applies to all seniors. Students may qualify for a gold card if they maintain a C+ average, 95 percent attendance rate, no suspensions for two years, and are involved in at least two extracurricular activities.

The gold card shows employers that a student is willing to work and can meet requirements, such as attendance, that are almost as strenuous as those in the working world.

If a student applies for a job at Chore-Time Brock and has a gold card, said John Replogle, CTB employment and safety manager, that student gets the job.

Replogle also encouraged employers to ask schools, even 10 years later, for students' transcripts, which makes students more responsible for their achievement levels while in school.

This year's project is the Kosciusko County Employers' Education Compact, in which employers and educators pledge to work together to ensure high academic requirements and to encourage lifelong learning. [[In-content Ad]]