Loachapoka High hosting teacher workshop Thursday

Loachapoka High School is one of the nine sites hosting a special one-day professional development workshop for teachers Thursday.

The Alabama Department of Education and the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development are offering the Thursday workshops to cooperative education teachers and career and technical education administrators across the state.

Teachers can participate in the Alabama Career Readiness Certificate and KeyTrain Software Training Thursday. This workshop will be 8:30 a.m. to noon at Loachapoka High and eight other ACCESS Distance Learning sites statewide. Loachapoka High’s site is used during the school year for distance learning instruction.

“We are one of the few ACCESS labs in the state,” said Jim Wilkerson, principal, Loachapoka High School.

“This lab is where schools like ours can afford to have certain courses and we get those as distance learning classes from other schools in the state.”

The primary goal of this event is to further develop the skills of Alabama’s teachers in preparing students for their future careers and tomorrow’s highly competitive workforce. Participating teachers will receive information on how their students can earn the Alabama Career Readiness Certificate, and also get a free copy of KeyTrain - a Web-based software program that educators nationwide are using to help students build lifelong employability and career skills.

The eight other ACCESS Distance Learning sites include:

- Lawrence County High School, Moulton;

- Madison County Computer Services Lab, Huntsville;

- Kate D. Smith DAR High School, Grant;

- Mobile County Board of Education, Mobile;

- Hewitt-Trussville High School, Trussville;

- Central High School, Tuscaloosa;

- Pike County High School, Brundidge; and

- Spain Park High School, Hoover.