Best Schools 2023: Butler Tech gives students a nontraditional path to a successful future

Career ready, college prepared—that’s the motto of the high school division of Butler Tech, a career-technical school in Buter County. And while many people may have preconceived notions about the school, they’ll quickly learn it doesn’t fit into any conventional boxes.

“When I first started working here, I heard so many times, ‘Oh, it’s about their labs.’ And coming here as an academic teacher, I was under that impression, too,” say Brandi Robertson, a language arts instructor who’s taught at Butler Tech for five years. “And what I found out when I got here is that not only do we serve the types of students who are very focused on their career, we also serve a variety of students, students who are interested in risk taking in lots of venues. There are a lot of students that we have here that are looking for a new opportunity, something non-traditional in their academics, something a little more exciting, something with risk taking.”

Butler Tech aims to provide something nontraditional in all aspects of its offerings, from its career programs and hands-on lessons to academic courses and off-campus experiences.

An Alternative High School Option

Butler Tech gives high school students who live within Butler County or the Northwest Local School District an alternative option to the traditional high school experience. Instead of seven-bell, eight-hour days that have students move from class to class, Butler Tech students spend half their day taking standard academic classes like English, math and science and the other half attending career technical training courses.

Students can choose from among more than two dozen career pathways. And while many are the traditional career technical pathways like construction, precision machining and welding technology, Butler Tech also offers more unexpected pathways like business, green engineering and visual art and design.

When students graduate, they’ll have earned certificates, licenses or even associate degrees related to their chosen pathway. Students can also earn college credit through College Credit Plus (CCP).

“Kids have the same opportunity here that they have in a much more traditionally vigorous type of district. Our students here do not lose a single advantage when it comes to their CCP coursework, their advanced classes. We have all of those things here,” says Robertson, who teaches CCP classes. “I think a lot of times the idea is that when they transition to tech school, they lose opportunity and rigor in the academic classroom. And that’s not the case at all.”

The Butler Tech Advantage

Another way that Butler Tech veers away from the traditional is with its emphasis on student choice and voice. In addition to picking their career pathway, students are encouraged to participate in designing their own education.

“I think here more so than other places that I have worked, we are really focused on student data, not always in terms of the numbers, but in terms of their experience, our relationships with them, and regularly seeking feedback from students about the direction of the class,” says Robertson. “Their voice should also give them a chance to experience choice. We really focus on those relationships, getting to know our students and figuring out how it is that we can build in choice that would appeal to our students.”

Matt Taske, a business teacher who joined Butler Tech this year, says that voice has been a part of his class from the beginning—he even asked his students to help him design the classroom space.

“How many times do students get the opportunity to design the classroom in which they’re learning?” says Taske. “Having them design and budget their classroom space is one of those things that we can do to give them that real world experience, to be able to go out with the confidence and the knowledge and the knowhow to get a job and not just get a job, but to lead companies. That’s ultimately what our goals are here, for those students to be successful, no matter which path they choose to take.”

This voice makes students more invested in their educational experience, while also teaching them confidence, problem-solving and self-sufficiency. This is just part of what Butler Tech calls the Butler Tech Advantage.

“My main goal is to teach the child, not the curriculum,” says Robertson. “Our staff is focused on developing the whole child, not just pushing curriculum and not just achievement on test scores. Now, of course, our students do great on their test scores and they get their diplomas. But … we’re focused on developing the whole child. And that starts with that voice and choice.”

Robertson also points to the support—personally, physically and financially—that Butler Tech provides its students as being another advantage.

“Our students are resourced in a way that I have never seen in a public school district. That can be through the 5th Day Experience,” says Robertson. The 5th Day Experience enables students to choose what they want to do on certain Fridays, such as interning at a company, volunteering for a nonprofit or making a college visit. Robertson says she has helped with volunteering activities, such as a random acts of kindness workshop, and bringing in Queen City Clay to help kids tap into their artistic sides.

“Our district believes that students should have a choice in their education, and that students should have an ability to develop themselves more so than just academically while they’re in high school,” she says.

How to Apply

Butler Tech serves students in their junior and senior years. The school has four campuses: the Bioscience Center in West Chester, D. Russell Lee High School in Fairfield, the Natural Science Center in Monroe and the School of the Arts in Fairfield. Sophomore students can make campus visits throughout November and all applications are due by Jan. 31. The only qualifications a student needs are that they reside in Butler County or the Northwest Local School District and not be credit deficient. Butler Tech does not look at grades, attendance or any disciplinary actions. Students are then chosen from a lottery of qualified applicants. To learn more, visit butlertech.org.