Commerce Chenango President and CEO Sal Testani, center, discussing career opportunities with school leaders. (Submitted photo)

By Sophia Root

Commerce Chenango

CHENANGO COUNTY – This week, Commerce Chenango would like to highlight the Superintendent Summit, hosted at the Cottage Bakery in Norwich on August 22.

All nine Chenango County Superintendents were in attendance, as well as representatives from several large and small employers throughout the county.

Local businesses have stated that their biggest challenge is finding qualified employees. The need goes beyond technical and skilled labor. There are literally hundreds of career opportunities available in Chenango County where the minimum required education required is high school diploma.

There are also hundreds of kids graduating from area high schools who do not intend to go on to college. Commerce Chenango President and CEO Sal Testani kicked the summit off by discussing the opportunity this creates.

Norwich City School District Superintendent Scott Ryan also expanded on the issue: in March of this year, over 70% of the Norwich High School population did not have a plan identified for the future. According to Tim Ryan, Bainbridge Guilford Central School District Superintendent, 40% of graduating students don’t go to college or enlist in the military.

They discussed the gap existing between students that graduate high school without a plan, and companies that need employees with a high school diploma.

Within this gap, they saw opportunity. They used the data to stimulate discussion and build on the connection between area School Districts and businesses. There were two main goals: to make students aware of the job opportunities that exist locally and to help those students be better prepared to take advantage of those opportunities.

Businesses that attended include: NBT Bank, Golden Artist Colors, Preferred Mutual Insurance Company, Chobani, UHS/Chenango Memorial Hospital, Mid-York Press, The Raymond Corporation, T&K Harrington, Kerry Bio-Science, and Unison/GE Aerospace. Blueox, Alvogen, Rentals to Go and NYCM also accepted the invitation.

This network of event attendees served as a think tank and generated a list of barriers to connecting schools and businesses, and some ways to overcome the barriers. They plan on meeting again this fall to build upon the progress made that night.

If you would like to learn more about this initiative, email stestani@chenangony.org.