The Goal: The Vanguards of Cleveland, in conjunction with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cuyahoga Community College, established a defined school-to-career pathway so students successfully graduating from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s (CMSD) MLK Firefighter Academy, upon graduation and certification by the State of Ohio, would be directly employed by the City of Cleveland as FireMedics within the Division of Fire.

Background: The CMSD’s MLK Firefighter Academy began operation during the 2003-2004 school year. With the assistance of the Vanguards of Cleveland and Cuyahoga Community College, the CMSD was able to develop and implement a vocational training program that has since been adopted by the Ohio Department of Education as the model for any future high school firefighter vocational programs within the state and was selected as an industry “Best Practice” by the National Conference on Accreditation of Public Postsecondary Occupational Education in 2005.

The program is based on a four-year model during grades 9 thru 12. Students are immersed in classroom and field instruction on life and career skills such as resume writing, interview techniques, principles of diversity, and management practices. In their final year, students receive core skills training in their chosen career path within the Public Safety Academy: Fire Technology, Emergency Medical Technology or Peace Officer/Private Security. This training is identical to the training required of professionals currently working in each career field.

For Fire Technology, this is the State of Ohio’s 240-hour Firefighter II Certification Course after which students must successfully pass a written test, proctored by the State of Ohio’s Department of Public Safety, to receive their professional credentials. Firefighter students must also successfully pass the Physical Agility Test proctored by Cuyahoga Community College at the start of their senior year to be admitted into the core professional training portion of the program.

Current Success & Challenges: Students in the MLK Firefighter Academy have a high school graduation rate of over 90% compared to a roughly 50% graduation rate for the school district overall. The academy itself has a success rate of approximately 60% which represents the students who successfully complete the entire curriculum and obtain a professional certification from the State of Ohio.

In June of last year, we graduated our seventh academy class with 80% of our students successfully passing the state’s certification examination. Of our past students, several have gained part-time employment in suburban departments (Warrensville Heights, Woodmere Village, North Randall, East Cleveland); one was accepted into the United States Air Force as a military firefighter, and another obtained full-time employment with the City of East Cleveland. Several of our students have been recruited by out-of-town fire departments—Dayton/Ohio, Atlanta/Georgia and Toledo/Ohio.

One “problem” that we did not foresee during program development is that over 90% of our graduates choose to enroll in college to continue their education. This is a “problem” that we love to have! The instruction and mentoring that we provide builds highly successful citizens with a drive to succeed. We are discovering that as our first students complete their four year college education cycles, the seed that was planted at MLK Firefighter Academy took deep roots with many still desiring to matriculate into the fire service.

This year, we have numerous students who have graduated and gone on to temporary jobs in anticipation of soon becoming firefighters in their home town. Another student returned from the University of Toledo to complete his degree locally so that he could take part in the next entry level hiring process given by the City of Cleveland. Our challenge is to continually entice highly motivated and capable students into the program by creating a direct pathway to high paying and rewarding jobs in the fire service career field.

MLK Public Safety Academy Curriculum

9^th Grade
Resumes: What they consist of and how to construct one properly.
Interviewing Skills: Do’s and don’ts of the interview process.
Law and Public Safety career overview.

10^th Grade
Foundations of Public Safety.
Introduction to Public Safety.
Overview of 11^th Grade courses.

11^th Grade
Emergency Medical Technology (EMT-B)
Unarmed Self Defense
Criminal Justice
Forensics
Crime Scene Investigation
Policing
Adult Parole Authority-Mentoring Program

12^th Grade
Private Security
132 hr Certification course thru OPOTA
Dispatching
40 hr Certification course thru NAED (National Academy of Emergency Dispatchers)
Certified Firefighters Course
240 hr State of Ohio certification course through Department of Public Safety\

Contact Information:

Vanguards of Cleveland, Inc.
Terence Watson, President
(216) 410-0052 – Direct
www.vanguardsofcleveland.org

MLK Firefighter Academy
Martin Luther King, Jr. School of
Law & Municipal Careers
Terence Watson, Program Director
(216) 410-0052 – Direct

Cuyahoga Community College
Fire Training Academy
Ted Huffman, Commander
(216) 987-5063 – Office

Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Katrina S. Myers, Interim Manager
Career & Technical Education and Workforce Development
Department of Post-Secondary Education
Phone: (216) 858-1224
Cell: (216) 701-5727
Fax: (216) 774-7669