Automotive Advisory Meeting Minutes
November 15, 2006
5:00 PM Prior to the start of the Advisory committee meeting Mike Plumb, Carl Fender and Ron Olsen from Automotive Yes discussed and filled out the AYES program performance survey.
5:30 The Advisory Committee:
Mike Plumb called the meeting to order.
Gene Kernan agreed to take notes for the meeting minutes.
Members present were: Mike Fisher from Les Schwab Tire Centers, Gene Kernan from Roy Robinson Chevrolet, Gary Neill from Renton Technical College, Jack Pennington of Pigantaro VW, Mike Plumb of Cascade High School, And Mike Ward representing General Motors Corp. Also present for the meeting was Ron Olsen from Automotive Youth Education System. He was here to perform a program audit to verify our program can qualify to remain a part of AYES.
Mike Plumb assumed the chair and guided the meeting.
Our present Auto Program consists of three sections.
The first section of each day lasts thru periods 1 & 2 and is a full year class. Ideally this class should have 18 plus students with a maximum of 24. There are nine students, 2 female and seven males enrolled and all have completed orientation, the “SP2” safety and pollution knowledge tests. Most of the students have begun projects that teach and reinforce automotive diagnostic and repair processes.
Our second section of the day is a one period program of about 24 students. The curriculum deals mostly on automotive theory with small amounts of hands on experience for reinforcement. This class is a single semester long and is offered both first and second semester.
Our third daily offering is the same as our first section with a different set of students. The class started with 24 bodies and is presently at 22 including 1 female. Most of this group has also finished SP2s and are also working on theory, diagnostics and repair on live vehicles.
Mike Plumb has announced and filed the papers to retire July 2007.
Mike Plumb reported that the program’s present wheel balancer is outdated and has broken adapters. It should be replaced with more modern equipment. Mike Fisher from Les Schwab volunteered to look for a used balancer for us.
Our program also should look into our tool inventory. Our present tools sets show wear and tear and in some cases need to be replaced.
Ron Olsen suggested that we need to get more involved with our local dealerships. He asked us to look at his list of local dealers and to mark those who have not been involved with our programs. Ayes will contact the manufacturers to put pressure on our local dealers to get involved in our programs and take our students for internships.
There was discussion about recruitment. Mike Fisher suggested that we might enhance auto program enrollment by offering our introductory classes at all the Everett High schools. Carl Fender replied that there are no open classrooms available in the other schools that can accommodate an Introductory Automotive Program.
Gary Neill Suggested “We need to plant the “Automotive” seed at the middle school level to peak student interest for Automotive Technology at the high school level.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 13, 2007.
Meeting adjourned 6:35 pm.