MPCSD considering iJAG for 2019-2020 academic year

The Mt. Pleasant Community School District is considering adopting iJAG - Iowa Jobs For America's Graduates - for the 2019-2020 academic year.

iJAG increases graduation rates, reduces dropout rates and provides one year of follow-up support for students after high school. They match students with career opportunities, apprenticeships, colleges or the military.

Carly Voltz, director of strategic advancement with iJAG, said iJAG looks at students as a whole. The program places an iJAG specialist in school districts who instructs students to master 37 core JAG competencies in leadership development and work readiness skills.

The educational specialist would teach 50 students over three to four class periods and perform one other duty assigned by school administration such as hall duty, lunch duty or advisory.

The program provides advocacy and builds resiliency in students. Instructors offer guidance in areas of personal growth, academic achievement and career and reach out to building faculty to ensure iJAG students are up to date on class coursework.

iJAG has a 96.4 percent graduation rate and 90 percent of students after graduation go into the workforce, are enrolled in college or are in the military, Voltz said.

Voltz offered the MPCSD a discount for their first year with the iJAG program, bringing the total expense to the district next year to $10,000 if they choose to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with iJAG.

If the district chooses to move forward with the program in future years, their cost would be $22,500 per year. The program would be paid for through the General Expense fund.

Kristi Ray, executive vice president of the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance, was present for the school board meeting to voice her support for iJAG.

'A year and a half ago, the Chamber made a concerted effort to make schools a priority to prepare students for jobs,” Ray said. 'We have about 300 jobs unfilled, and we're trying to come up with everything we can to be clever. We wanted to be here tonight to voice our support for iJAG.”

Ray said the Chamber would assist in any fundraising the school district would need to support the iJAG program. Ray said she would like to see every student graduating from the MPCSD prepared and ready for the workforce when they graduate.