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TECHNOLOGY & PRACTICE
First high school operator class gets national attention
 | | Paul Radicchi, of Connecticut Water Co., gives sampling instructions. Seven girls and eight boys signed up for the course — a larger than expected enrollment. Environmental concerns drove much of the interest. Photo courtesy Portland Town Tech Educational Partnership |
The nation's first high school curriculum to prepare students for a small system operator certification exam not only boasts four successes on the first try, but is willing to share their text and lesson plans nationwide — for free.
"Water and People" is a one-semester class for high school seniors that introduces them to the variety of careers in the drinking water industry and prepares them to take Connecticut's certification exam for small system operators. The "textbook" is a three-ring binder that will shortly be copyrighted by the Connecticut AWWA Section, which plans to make it available free on its Web site. Team-taught by a veteran biology teacher and a 30-year veteran water operator, the lesson plans also will be available free to any school district that asks. The course is heavily interactive, full of hands-on experiences, field trips and speakers, making use of Connecticut AWWA Section members. The Connecticut Department of Public Health has publicized the course to school districts statewide. And now the US Environmental Protection Agency is preparing a video featuring the Portland, Conn., program as a recruiting tool intended for nationwide use. It should be ready in the fall. The Water and People course had its kick-start when, like others in the industry, the Connecticut AWWA Section was staggered to learn that more than 40 percent of the state's 1,080 certified operators were eligible to retire — and not in 10 or 20 years. Connecticut's water brain drain could occur in the next five years.  | | Dave Kuzminski (left) accepts an AWWA section education honor at ACE09 from Mike Leonard for the Connecticut Section's education efforts. Photo by David Hathcox |
Fortunately, the section had money and volunteers willing and able to take action quickly when this crisis popped into view 3 ½ years ago. The Connecticut Section chair at that time was Dave Kuzminski, a veteran of 30 years in the Portland, Conn., water department who had recently taken a job that put him in close contact with the school district and teachers and town officials.
In 1990, while he was still with the water department, Kuzminski had started working as a teacher with Portland's Town Tech Educational Partnership. The partnership gives students real-life projects on which to learn technical skills — for example, building a Web site for the town, using desktop publishing to produce the town's annual report or sampling stream water quality to submit data to the state. Now employed as Portland's Town Technology Coordinator, Kuzminski runs the Town Tech program. He and long-time collaborator, Seb Agostino, an aquatic biology teacher at Portland High School, thought a water operator certification preparatory was a perfect extension of Town Tech Education program. Town officials agreed. Kuzminski made a proposal to the local school superintendent and, with help from Agostino, fleshed out a rough curriculum for the Portland Board of Education. Eventually, that board ran the curriculum past the Connecticut State Board of Education. Both boards liked the concept, which fits with Connecticut's educational trend toward career preparation, Kuzminski says. 2008 was a year of program development, team-building and clearing snags. The Connecticut AWWA Section backed the course and an education committee contributed expertise. Because the school district had budgeted no money for an extra course, the section fronted the $7,500 needed to put on the first class. Now the money is in the Portland School District's budget. Wes Winterbottom, the professor who teaches the water management courses at Gateway Community College, and his colleagues contributed to the curriculum development and arranged for Gateway to accept completion of the high school course as three college credit hours.  | | Soda pop bottles served as filtration beds as students experimented to find the media that worked best. Photos courtesy Portland Town Tech Educational Partnership |
Vickey Carrier and Bill Sullivan, both engineers for the Drinking Water Section of the Connecticut Department of Public Health who oversee the state’s operator certification program, were "very supportive," Kuzminski says, ensuring all the benchmarks were covered for the small system operator certification exam — distribution, disinfection, pumps, water quality, resources and environmental issues.
One snag could have been the state regulation requiring exam-takers to be 18 years old and high school graduates. Had the Connecticut DPH rigidly stuck with the rule for the annual May exam, all the students would have had to wait a year to take it. Instead, state DPH officials decided a letter from the high school stating the students would graduate was sufficient and even proctored the exam at the Portland High School in June. AWWA members contributed to the course's success in other ways, arranging for the 15 students in the first class to try their hand at meter installations and a hydrant installation. Another section member arranged donation of the laboratory testing so students could get real-life experience in conducting a sanitary survey. They treated the water system inside Portland's large combination junior-senior high school building as if it were a community water system. For six weeks they conducted routine sampling at kitchen sinks, chemistry labs and drinking fountains — even collecting a lead and copper sample and running the drill for retesting. The results were encouraging. Four of the 15 students earned their small systems operator certification on the first try. Two of them will head "across the bridge" to apply at neighboring Middletown, Conn., as soon as the economy allows hiring for some of that water system's nine operator vacancies. Two others will continue on to college, but Kuzminski says all the students were impressed with the high degree of technicality in the process behind their water taps. All also were interested in the wide variety of careers in the water industry. Meanwhile, "the course has taken on a life of its own," Kuzminski says. The high school in New Haven, Conn., and an adult ed program are prepared to offer the course in September, as soon as the copyright is complete. Kuzminski he feels the course has "a lot steam behind it" to spread far and wide quickly: The Connecticut DPH sent invitations to some 40 school districts; the students ran a booth touting the Water and People course at a USEPA career fair and at the Connecticut Section's annual technical conference; and he presented the program during the AWWA annual conference in San Diego. Kuzminsksi now has a fistful of business cards to follow up on. Because he also runs the Water & People Web site, he's already prepared a spot to post the curriculum. And because Agustino also happens to teach photography at the high school, the course Web site boasts a photo gallery as well, documenting many aspects of the class. Additional AWWA Resources
Sandy Nance, Managing Editor
Posted: 08/18/2009
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