EMMETT, Idaho β Students at Payette River Regional Technical Academy are learning skills that go far beyond the classroom, and they're doing it from all over Idaho.
"If you can't bring the kids to the classroom, take the classroom to the kid," said Patrick Goff, superintendent principal and tech director at PR2TA.
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Payette River Regional Technical Academy started as an idea sketched on a paper napkin back in 2009. One year later, it became a charter school in Emmett, and now it's a place where students can learn online and in person.
Career training is at the center of everything they do.
The school is a state-chartered institution with its own board of directors. The Emmett School District serves as its authorizer.
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"In 2020, when that thing called COVID hit, we actually went and had to start thinking outside of the box," Goff said.
The school had to reimagine how to deliver hands-on training remotely.
"We had students that were in automotive, they would actually go out to their own family car or their own garage," Goff said.
The most innovative solution came in engineering, where the school purchased a large server to run virtual desktop interfaces.
"So the kids can take their Chromebooks from home, log in, get a Windows 10 interface, run SolidWorks, our 3D modeling software," Goff said.
Students can design projects remotely and watch them being created in real time.
This virtual desktop interface now serves 135 freshman students statewide who can access online career technical programs. The programs include engineering, a medical assistant track, automotive, and culinary.
The school ensures personal connection despite the online format, requiring teachers to meet with students at least once daily.
"I told my teachers, make sure that you are the happiest, friendliest face they see, no matter what, because you never know what's on the other end," Goff said.
Goff emphasizes that the school takes a different approach than traditional education.
"I don't want to sit there and say we're going to get kids college-ready, we're going to get them career-ready, and if that involves college, we did it," Goff said. "If that involves the military, we did it. If that involves going out and getting a job because you have 5 different national certifications in your hand, we did it."
The school's philosophy centers on career preparation rather than traditional college preparation.
"We need to start focusing more as a whole society of being career focused because there's a lot of students that aren't college bound, nor do they want to be college bound," Goff said. "As long as they're career-focused, that's gonna achieve whatever they need to."
Once a month, online students join their in-person peers in the lab, where they can step into culinary kitchens, automotive shops, welding bays, and engineering rooms to put their skills into practice.
"We come to school here one Friday a month, where we have our PLCs or professional development, and we do that for two hours, and then we open up our labs, so we'll have between 50 and 100 students that will be coming in that we're doing the online," Goff said.
During these sessions, students engage in hands-on activities across nine different pathways.
At PR2TA, core classes like math, English, science, and history are considered electives, chosen depending on the career path students pick.
"I say their electives are their math, science, history, and English, which is backwards from normal public education, I get it. But our math, science, history, and English push into each one of our programs," Goff said.
This approach ensures academic content is relevant to students' career goals.
"You need to have math that's conducive to whatever career you want to pursue. Do you need calculus for engineering? Yes. Do you need weights and measurements and whatnot for culinary? Yes," Goff said.
The school offers extensive certification opportunities. One student earned five certifications for welding last year.
The medical assisting program is particularly successful.
"We had 22 medical assistant completers last year," Goff said.
The program's success is measured by job placement.
"We had 8 out of the 22 actually have jobs right now in the hospital. So they're out there making money, and they might wanna be going to get a CNA or going to get their doc, but now they're making money so they can pay for their schooling," Goff said.
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The school is expanding its reach to rural communities.
"We reach out to small areas like Horseshoe Bend, Cascade, and Garden Valley," Goff said. "We've done some Word, Excel, PowerPoint; they get their credentials for that. Now we're looking at medical assisting, and we're gonna work with Garden Valley to help."
PR2TA is planning to add trades like electrical, plumbing, and HVAC next year.
"One thing we do not have is we don't have that trade section. We don't have the electrical, the plumbing, the HVAC," Goff said. "What are we getting within the next year? Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC."
"The return on my investment is make sure every student here leaves here successful," Goff said.
Payette River Regional Technical Academy is located off Highway 16:
1805 Highway 16, Emmett, ID 83617.
You can find them online at pr2ta.com.
