Three Randolph County Employers  Rated Outstanding

Randolph County WIA Awards

Add Penfield
7/23/09

 

 ASHEBORO—Three Randolph county employers, including both public school systems, have been honored for excellence in partnering with the Regional Partnership Workforce Development Board (WDB) which functions in coordination with Regional Consolidated Services (RCS) of Asheboro.

           

Recognized as Outstanding Employers, the Randolph County School and Asheboro City School Systems as well as Kennametal, Inc. of Asheboro were presented with awards of excellence by the WDB at the sixth annual Regional Partnership Awards Banquet held recently (Thursday, July 16) at The Cutting Board in Burlington. Three Randolph county participants in programs conducted under provisions of the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA)…Shirley Lester of Ramseur, Robert Barnes of Sophia and Brandie Lyons of Trinity…also were cited with individual awards of excellence.

           

Randolph, Alamance and Orange counties comprise the Regional Partnership local area of the WIA program administered by RCS from offices in Asheboro. All three employers in Randolph were nominated for awards by the Randolph County JobLink Career Center. JobLink contact person for the school systems was Workkeys Coordinator Mary Garner. Howie Snotherly, Business Service Representative at JobLink, was the Kennametal contact.

         

The Randolph County School System embracing 30 schools with more than 18,000 students enrolled is the largest employer in Randolph County. The workforce numbers some 2,500 fulltime and part-time employees.

            During the 2008-2009 academic year, the county system initiated Smart Boards, state-of-the-arts interactive technology, in over 79 classrooms. Partnering with JobLink, Randolph Community College and the Asheboro City Schools to apply for a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant and, in May of 2007, received a Talent Development grant.

           

 Nancy Landis of RCS who directs the JobLink Career Center initiated a concept linking youth with JobLink as a means of supplying students with the tools to make informed career decisions and give them an opportunity to become more employable by earning a Career Readiness Certificate

           

The staff of the Randolph County School System, headed by Dr. Don Andrews, has embraced the project from the outset and continues to advocate what are known as the KeyTrain and WorkKeys systems. The Randolph system has developed a reputation for excellence over a wide area of North Carolina. As a partner in the project, it has contributed to the prestige of the local JobLink Center. JobLink received the annual “Partner in Progress Award” from the Randolph County Economic Corporation this past June 23.

 

The Asheboro City School System has shared the four-way partnership with the county schools, RCC and the JobLink Career Center as it introduced “ SMART Boards” in more than 60 classrooms. At Asheboro High School, the system and superintendent Diane Frost together with the Asheboro Board of Education launched the Zoo School in 2007, the fourth zoo school program in the United States.

           

That same year, the City Schools became a proving ground for the WIRED program, assessing  students in career and technical education in grades 10-12. Of the 105 students originally assessed, 22 earned a Gold Career Readiness certificate.

           

Like Randolph county school personnel, the staff at Asheboro High has fully supported and continues to support the project with its KeyTrain and WorkKeys systems.  The City Schools System which celebrated a 100-year anniversary in 2005 has about 4,500 students enrolled. The elementary and middle schools and the high school are staffed by some 600 employees, over half of them teachers.

           

Kennametal, headquartered on Asheboro’s YZEX Street, is an international supplier of drills, bits and high-end manufacturing tools. Since last Fall, the company has undertaken an investment program of over 14 million dollars which is designed to add 70 new jobs to its workforce over the next three years.

           

Subsequent to embarking on the expansion program, Kennametal has worked closely with the Randolph County JobLink Career Center., which collected and sorted applications and tool notice of applicants’ eligibility for WIA on-the-job training. RCC organized classes for the company to train selected candidates. JobLink accepted some 500 applications in the expansion efforts.

           

Established by Congress, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) as implemented by Regional Consolidated Services is coordinated from Asheboro by Director Linda Parker. In addition to the Regional Partnership, employers and participants are served in the Pee Dee Region local area comprised of Montgomery, Moore and Richmond counties. Employer and Participant awards were presented last month at a banquet in Southern Pines.

           

RCS is a private, non-profit human services agency, serving 11 counties in North Carolina all told. This year, the agency is celebrating the 30^th anniversary of its founding by Asheboro resident Janice Scarborough who has been executive director from the start.