ISD discusses CTE millage on upcoming ballot

HANCOCK — The Copper County Immediate School District held a meeting Tuesday night to discuss the Career Technical Education (CTE) Millage proposal with the public, who will vote on the matter August 8th.

Career Technical Education programs expose students to a number of different technical fields while still in high school. The district already has several CTE programs in place, but the cost to keep students in the programs can be expensive.

The millage will not only help with tuition costs, but it will allow the district to offer more programs to benefit more students.

“Unfortunately, the schools can’t afford to send every student who wants to take these classes and what we are afraid of is, if we don’t have a millage, these classes will go away because the tuition is too costly for our local schools,” said Copper Country Intermediate School District Superintendent George Stockero.

“It will provide our high school students with career opportunities that they may not have already been able to pursue. It gives them hands-on experience to high-demand and high-skilled jobs that they can make a decent wage,” said Kathy Flagstadt, a community member who is in support of the millage.

At the meeting, the school board released a video of U.P. native Jason Cameron, a DIY Network host and licensed contractor, supporting their cause. Cameron discussed the CTE program and how these classes benefited his professional life.

The board will hold another public presentation on Tuesday, July 25th at 6:30 p.m. at L’Anse High School.