Construction Sector, KC School District Teaming Up on New Training Curriculum

Executives from construction-sector companies in the region and Kansas City School District Superintendent Mark Bedell will hold a news conference Tuesday to announce details of a new construction-technlogy program designed to put students on  an accelerated pathway to skilled, union construction trades.

The Enhanced Construction Technology Program being unveiled, organizers said, is the result of a partnership with the Builder’s Association, the Greater Kansas City Building and Trades Council, area construction companies, and the school district. It will convert the current residential construction training program at Manual Career and Technical Center to an intensive commercial construction-training program. Using a combination of classroominstruction and field application at construction sites, it is designed to help fill openings in highly skilled union trade professions that are currently  in high demand throughout the region and country.

The news conference will follow a roundtable on minotiry-business expansion, scheduled for Tuesday morning at Burns & McDonnell. Among those expected to be on hand with Bedell to introduce the new program are Don Greenwell, president of the Builder’s Association; Alise Martiny, business manager for the Greater Kansas City Building Trades Council; Ray Kowalik, CEO of Burns & McDonnell and Ron Coker, a senior vice president for the engineering firm; David Disney, executive vice president of community affairs, for JE Dunn Construction; Ramin Cherafat, chief operating officer, McCownGordon Construction; and Rashawn Caruthers, director of career and technical education for the school district.