Coffee with COR — an interview with Jody Reeves, Executive Director, Academies and Career and Technical Education.
Jody Reeves leads a team of professionals in the Academies and Career and Technical Education department serving all of Gwinnett County Public Schools. Our interview took place a week out from her retirement, leaving a county she had served for over 28 years. After receiving both her undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia, Ms. Reeves taught at North Gwinnett High School for nearly 21 years. All four of her children attended the school where she taught.
COR: There are 17 career clusters in Georgia. What do you feel is the number one goal for Career and Technical Education programs to accomplish to be successful?
Our goal is to provide students with the opportunity to develop a solid base of skills for their chosen career cluster, along with adequate academic preparation. This is a balancing act, and one where it is important not to swing too far in either direction. Many of our students will acquire a certain set of skills, and it is important that those are transferable from one industry to another — because at this age they may not know what they want to do yet.
Martha Ross, a fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute, illustrates just how important these skills can be for disadvantaged youth. Among 29-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds, people who have been exposed to Career and Technical Education programs have a better chance of earning beyond a living wage and working in higher-quality jobs.
COR: With so many industries to consider, how does your team stay on top of the constantly changing world around you?
I have a team of ten people now and we will continue to grow. This team helps us stay on top of the changing world, but we don’t do it alone. We have been strategic in setting up district-wide advisory committees to help us make decisions that are best for each industry. Additionally, many of our teachers and principals have industry experience themselves, and they stay current by attending professional conferences.
COR: Specific to the Health Science cluster, what is the ideal future state you would like to see realized?
I want every student in the Health Science cluster to be prepared with skills that make them employable, to have solid clinical experience, and to hold relevant industry credentials.
The COR perspective
COR is delighted to work with leaders like Jody Reeves. The sign of a great leader is someone always looking to grow and learn. That passion shines through her work and spills onto a team with the same drive for continual improvement.
We titled this piece Building a Healthcare Pipeline because that is what Ms. Reeves and her team are doing. By offering early exposure to the healthcare setting and building critical skills in these rising professionals, the healthcare industry will reap the benefits.
We rise by lifting others.
Robert Ingersoll
