ROBERTSDALE — Could Baldwin’s next high school feature technical education as a part of the overall curriculum?

Once the data has been collected, and input from the communities gathered, the Board of Education will take up that question, said Mike Dingledien, a partner with the consulting firm of Steed, Hammond and Paul.

“At the present time we’re collecting a variety of data,” he said, during a Career Technical Education Advis-ory Committee meeting held June 20 at Daphne High School. “Once that process has been completed we’ll submit several designs and then perform a concept test. That’s where people indicate what they like or don’t like, and how the designs can be improved before they’re submitted to the board for a decision.”

During his presentation Dingledien showed slides of Walter Stebbins High in Dayton, Ohio.

“Stebbins High School is a four-year comprehensive high school that offers college preparatory and career technical programs under the same roof,” he said.

“Through a freshman career planning course and sophomore educational pathway course students choose one of four educational pathways: arts, media and communication; business, management and marketing; education, health and human services; and engineering, manufacturing and the sciences.”

Stebbins, Dingledien said, is a stand-alone career academy; It had its own athletic, art and music programs, in addition to the traditional core curriculum associated with any high school.

“The only difference is that as you go down a hallway you’ll see an English class on one side and an automotive technology lab, or even a television studio on the other,” he said.

Such a concept is one option that Dingledien’s firm will present at the next advisory meeting, which is expected to be held in mid- to late-August.

Faron Hollinger, superintendent of the Baldwin County School System, said the school board began to consider the feasibility of such a project back in January.

“Ours is a good school system,” he said, “but we feel we’re on the way to being a great system. Baldwin is the second fastest-growing county in the state and the 38th fastest growing in the nation.”

Such growth in the general population means an increase in the student population.

“Within the next decade Baldwin’s population is expected to explode past the 300,000 mark,” Hollinger said. “Right now our student-to-teacher ratio is 14-1, as we have 375 teachers more than the state allotment.”

The Baldwin County School System has invested $135 million in current projects, with a forthcoming $150 million bond issue to follow. Local taxes account for 46 percent of the money being invested in the system, with 45 percent coming from the state and the rest being made up by the federal government and other sources.

With the recent announcement that ThyssenKrupp will be locating its steel mill in north Mobile County, workforce development is being placed on the front burner of public awareness.

“To meet the kind of growth that is being projected, as well as the needs of area businesses, the system has to plan accordingly,” Hollinger said.

Dingledien said that Career Tech had evolved from separate campuses where students from several high schools were bussed to a central location to that of having a high school that blended a technology curriculum with a traditional course offering.

“There was a time when the less than successful students were dumped into the tech schools,” he said. “That concept is changing … ”

Today a plumber might make more money than a physician and an electrician more than an attorney. The trades are now being seen as career paths that can lead to financial and personal success.

The high school technical schools have affiliations with professional trade organizations and schools, community colleges and four-year universities.

“Because students identify with their school,” Dingledien said, “we would have to change some mindsets about this new concept in education. That’s why we’re seeking input from the business community, educators and the general population.”

The August meeting and concept test purportedly will give consultants enough to research for the school board to make a decision on what the school system should do.