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NILES — Brandywine Board of Education members heard reports about the district’s Career Technical Education programs at their meeting Monday night.

February is Career Technical Education Month and board members took the opportunity to hear from teachers and students about the programs Brandywine offers.

      Superintendent Travis Walker reported that the district offers several different programs including auto shop, machine tool, cabinet making and millwork, broadcasting and journalism, computer aided design, business and accounting.

“Brandywine has a robust program for a district our size,” he said. “They are doing amazing work, it’s really cool to see some of the stuff they’re doing every day.”

Brandywine CTE Director Kirk Shafer, other staff and students spoke to the board during the meeting. Shafer said that students are learning real world skills they can use after high school and are also in some cases preparing to compete in state championships.

He told board members that the person leading the business and accounting program is not only teaching the students enrolled in the CTE program but also all high school seniors. The state has instituted a new curriculum and graduation requirement to make sure students know how to handle personal finances when they graduate high school.

Shafer and others said they look forward to the revamped CTE facility that is coming thanks to the bond issue approved by voters last May. The new facility is expected to be open for the start of the 2026-27 school year. The expansion will allow the district to host more students from around the county to the existing programs.

Another change coming to the program will be a move next year to get students into jobs in their chosen fields for half of the day, Shafer said.

Students talked about how being involved in the CTE program has changed their high school careers and their outlook for the future. One girl said that she loves working with her hands and that being in the wood shop class has given her new confidence.

Two girls taking the broadcasting and investigative journalism class said that they’ve also gained confidence and learned new skills including interviewing people, researching information and solving cold cases. The class will soon be releasing a podcast about what they’ve done.

A practice started last month continued at Monday’s meeting with reports from the district’s three building principals and assistant superintendent Amanda Lezotte. They highlighted what’s going on in their buildings right now and future activities such as an art and literacy night and book fair on March 26 at the elementary school.

Board members continued a discussion started in January about whether to have a district volunteer policy. The issue came up in January when a longtime volunteer appealed a decision by Walker to not allow the volunteer to continue to coach because of a felony conviction more than two decades ago.

Monday, board members and Walker discussed whether to have a volunteer policy and members decided informally that a new policy isn’t needed and to allow Walker to make the final decision.

Walker said he would consider a number of issues such as how many years it has been since a person’s conviction and whether there were multiple charges, assaultive charges or charges involving children.

Board members also heard an update about their decision to include a student on the board as a non voting member. Walker said four students have applied and he will bring information to the board for their review next month.