Lee County Schools, Concrete Enterprises join to prepare students for careers

LEESBURG — The Lee County School System has announced an agreement with Concrete Enterprises under which the company will provide advisory services and job placement opportunities for students.

The two signed the Career, Technical and Agricultural Education memorandum of understanding recently at Lee County High School.

The signing ceremony celebrated CTAE students taking their next steps to pursue a career in their selected industry, with constructor, welder and electrician among the careers included.

Under the agreement, Concrete Enterprises will provide advisory services once per semester to the architecture and construction cluster courses taught by the school system and will offer two job placement opportunities for students who have graduated, finished a CTAE pathway within the architecture and construction cluster and passed the End of Pathway Assessment.

“This agreement between the LCSS and the CE family is very unique, and we hope the first of many with businesses and organizations in our community,” CTAE Director Jodie Knight said. “The LCSS CTAE program produces awesome students with the skills necessary for immediate placement in the work force in high-needs jobs in our area.

“My job as the CTAE director is to identify and partner with these companies to provide us with guidance for our pathways as we provide them with a skilled labor force to grow their business and our local economy. We are extremely excited about this partnership with The CE family and what it means for our students going forward.”

The memorandum of understanding will cover the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years with the hope and goal to have the partnership continually renewed annually.

“It is important for us to continue finding the best and brightest students in our community and give them opportunities to earn a good living and raise a family,” Concrete Enterprise owner Jason Wiggins said. “These men and women are the backbone to our success.”

The collaboration with the company is exciting, schools Superintendent Kathleen Truitt said, and the school system appreciates the community support demonstrated by the first agreement of its type.

“We look forward to expanding our work force in the Lee County area by way of partnerships with local businesses and industry,” she said. “We are very proud of our students and our leaders in the CTAE fields for making all of this possible.”

Special Photo: LCHS