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According to the DowntownColumbus.com Blog, the new Downtown High School and Career Center will be opening at the end of the month. The new facility was recently completed at the corner of Fourth and Mound streets and has a capacity of 800 Junior and Senior High School students. According to the school’s official website, classes will focus on topics including culinary arts, marketing, information technology, entrepreneurship, multimedia, and more.
No word yet on when the student-run restaurant will be open to the public, but we’ll be sure to share those details as soon as we find out.
So is this a normal high school that focuses on preparing students for college, a vocational school that prepares students for work, but not college, or is it both? From the website:
“It’s a more contemporary version of what career centers used to be,†said Carole Olshavsky, senior executive of Capital Improvements.
The Downtown High School project is part of the planned consolidation of the district’s Northeast, Northwest and Southeast career centers.
It sounds like a vocational school/career center to me, but foci in “business” and “engineering” could mean that there is some college prep going on. Or “engineering” could mean CAD technician and “business” could mean personal assistant.
So what is this place?
It sounds like it’s a mix of both. According to the website, the Downtown location is being talked up for the fact that it’s proximate to both colleges (not uncommon for High Schoolers to take classes at CSCC) as well as potential internships in the downtown workplace.
Is it common for students to spend middle and high school at a “career center” instead of a school? Are we starting to give up on teaching inner city kids things like math and literature so they can focus on learning how to cut hair and type out a word document? How many years does that take?
@NerosNeptune – I don’t see how anyone could construe this as “giving up on teaching inner city kids.” Some kids benefit from a college preparatory course of study. Others from career training. The kids and their families make these decisions along with the schools.
This school still has the core classes such as Language Arts and Math. In the past, students have done half a day at their home school and half a day at the Career Center; the DCHS simply consolidates everything into one building. The students are receiving their content learning on top of the technical skills.
thanks for clarifying, buckeyenation
I had a meeting there recently. The facilitator said that all of the career centers were being consolidated to the downtown school, while it functioned as a regular HS for some students. The facility was impressive with a student run cafeteria and hair salon that are to be open to the public.
I guess the consolidation makes sense, but I am getting a sense of missed opportunity here. Columbus is trying to get people to move downtown and trying to get people to stay in neighborhoods like German Village and Victorian Village after they have kids. I think a top notch alternative high school, magnet school, or maybe something similar to the new Batelle/OSU Metro High School would have done more to retain the types of people who can afford large downtown condos than a two-year vocational school.
Regarding elementary and middle school magnet schools, in the CCS. There is one currently right in the Short North. The school is very popular and is K-8. It’s called Indianaola Alt. The school has a few arts program, a longer school day, and approaches teaching from multiple teaching methods. Students enter through a lottery. Anyone in the district can attend. Starting next year the school’s moving to a new building in south Clintonville (previously a middle school that has been renovated.)
In addition, Fort Hays high school is one of the best art’s schools in the state and has a full curriculum. The schools ranked well among high schools and is located just on Cleveland Ave. just north of downtown. The school works as an open enrollment school where you apply to be in it through a lottery.
Contrary to beliefs, if you do a little research there are a few strong schools that are open to district wide enrollment and near or in downtown. People in the Short North, German Village, etc. do not have to move to a suburb to find a decent public school, through they may need to use a district bus or drive their child (as it may not be in walking distance).
^There’s no doubt that there are some decent/good public schools in Columbus proper. I do think the lack of a high quality, open enrollment neighborhood school could hurt chances at attracting residents though, particularly in the central area.
I personally would like my child to be within a few miles of his schools. I’d also like the students there to get consistently high test scores. And I might be willing to play the lottery on school enrollment, but you won’t convince my wife. She’s more of a live in a good school district/sure thing type.
Any decent American H.S. should include college preparatory courses as well as technical training. As we all know, all it takes is one low standardized test score to earn a first class ticket into the military or to becoming a blackjack dealer in Vegas. This school sounds like a feeder instrument for both options. I sure hope I’m wrong about this.
I am a junior student at Columbus Downtown High School in the Culinary Arts Program. I am here to answer some of the comments. Yes the school is focused on your career technical field but we still have math, english, Physics, Foreign Language, Social Studies. We are just like any other CCS school just that we train for our careers. This school is only a junior senior school and it allows us to take our career because we have already taken most of our classes required to graduate. To get into this school you must enter through your school to the program and the teachers go over your resume you submit and see if you can get entered. All I have to say is come into this school you will be suprised, see the students be amazed, then see all of us operate and be Shocked!!!
Hi CDHS1! Thanks for logging in to share your input! :D