careers

The Madison school board appointed an Avon principal Tuesday to become the district's next assistant superintendent, Madison Patch reports. Pine Grove School Principal Gail Dahling-Hench is leaving the Avon post she's served for six years to replace current Madison Assistant Superintendent Anita Rutlin, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

With student debt growing and a mismatch between unemployed Americans' skills and the required expertise for available jobs, vocational education could be gaining steam, and high schools are rethinking whether they should usher students toward something other than traditional colleges.

Frank Rocco, who has been serving this year as interim principal of Kalamazoo's Woodward School for Technology and Research, has been named the school's permanent principal. Woodward is a K5 magnet school.

Carnegie Mellon University and one of the government’s top spy agencies want to interest high school students in a game of computer hacking. Their goal with “Toaster Wars” is to cultivate the nation’s next generation of cyber warriors in offensive and defensive strategies. The free, online “high school hacking competition,” open to grades 6-12, is scheduled to run from April 26 to May 6.

As CEO of Michigan’s second-largest school district, Utica Community Schools Superintendent Christine Johns oversees the education of almost 29,000 students, supervises a workforce of nearly 3,950 employees and is responsible for a $267 million annual budget.

After two misses -- the first when the school board rejected the finalists, and the second, when the top contender withdrew after blistering public criticism over his perceived homophobia and top-down management style -- the community is looking for a superintendent that's a good fit for the diverse and demanding Berkeley, Calif. community. School trustees have picked Cedar Rapids, Iowa firm Ray & Associates to recruit and scrutinize candidates.

Anchorage school Superintendent Jim Browder is due to meet the public and interview for the superintendent's job in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday. School Board members in Anchorage said they learned on Friday that Browder had applied for the Iowa position and is one of three finalists. The deadline for candidates to apply for the Iowa job was Feb. 11.

The Princeton Board of Education met in special session Tuesday night to determine the future of the school district’s leadership plan. The agenda for the meeting, posted Friday, March 1, states that the school board will discuss and act on offering the permanent superintendent position to Espe. That came a day after an original posting, stating that the board will discuss and act on extending Espe’s current contract as interim superintendent.

Carthage (Mo.) R-9 School District students went to work on Feb. 28th as part of Hacemos' National High School Technology Day. They spent the day job shadowing at the AT&T Call Center to get a first hand look at different careers in technology.

Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol R. Johnson announced the appointment of Roger Bourgeois as Assistant Superintendent for Technical/Vocational Network. Bourgeois, who currently serves as Superintendent of Essex Agricultural and Technical High School in Hathorne, will direct the district’s efforts to expand and enhance technical and vocational opportunities.