EED is pleased to announce Curtis Clough has been hired as the new EED CTE Administrator. Mr. Clough's educational background is exceptionally broad and eclectic, including Middle School/High School Teacher, Athletic Coach, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director, High School Principal, Rural School District Superintendent, and Online Student Instructor/Academic Chair at a Community College. The combination of Curtis's classroom, school, district, and post-secondary CTE experiences have provided him with a truly holistic understanding of Career and Technical Education and make him a valuable addition to the EED CTE unit. A passion for and direct involvement in Career and Technical Education has been a constant across Curtis's varied educational positions. A few highlights of his CTE efforts include: overseeing alignment of career and technical programs in higher education to national accreditation with the Practical Nursing and Welding programs receiving approval by national accrediting bodies, and Co-Chairing an initiative to partner K-12 and Higher Education with local business and industry to align educational expectations and career exploration with local workforce and economic development needs, including job shadowing and mentoring programs for high school juniors and seniors with various employers.
Curtis is in the process of moving with his wife from Ohio to Juneau and is anticipated to formally begin work October 1st.
EED is pleased to also welcome Sheila Box as an Education Specialist II to the CTE unit. Sheila has been with the Department of Education & Early Development for 15 years, and has coordinated the Even Start, Comprehensive School Reform, and Supplemental Educational Services programs for the Department in the past, as well as working continuously with districts on their ESEA (Titles I, Migrant, IIA, and III) grants; providing technical assistance, approving, and monitoring expertise for these grants. Sheila was instrumental in completing development of and providing training to districts for the GMS online protocol for ESEA grants that will be used more extensively for CTE grants in the future. In addition, Sheila has been involved in school improvement processes with the department for many years, developing early forms of the school improvement plan, initiating the placement of coaches in schools and districts, and most recently providing technical assistance and guidance in the use of the STEPP continuous improvement platform. She has served as liaison for up to 38 schools and 10 districts as they developed and institutionalized the continuous improvement process in their own sites, and looks forward to developing relationships with the professionals in the CTE community.