Putnam Schools Working To Further Increase Dual Enrollment At Monterey

Putnam County Schools System to continue focusing on efforts to increase dual enrollment at Monterey High School.

Director of Schools Corby King said there are pieces in the works to try and increase those numbers. He said one of those is through a partnership with Vol State which provide online opportunities for students.

“So a student that meets certain criteria in their English 9/English 10,” King said. “If they get to that junior year and they meet certain criteria to be legible for dual enrollment, they can take that go into the lab at Monterey High School and have access to that class through Vol State that we have at Cookeville and at Monterey.”

King said they want to make sure students at each high school are receiving the same opportunities. He said sometimes they can provide more CTE offerings at Cookeville High School than Monterey or Upperman, simply because of the size.

Through the recent Innovative School Model grant dollars, King said they were able to provide more resources to Monterey. For example, he said they were able to add another agriculture teacher at Monterey, a business program at Upperman, and more.

“And all of these programs that we’re adding are based not just on student interest but also workforce needs,” King said. “We added an EMR program at Cookeville High School where we’re partnering with our EMS, rescue squad/911, getting students so they’re able to leave high school and go work for the ambulance service. Same thing with the criminal justice program, leaving high school if they want to explore criminal justice further whether it’s to be a police officer or detective or go work for the jail, there’s going to be career opportunities when they leave.”