The Wagner School District was the first in South Dakota to adopt a Jobs for America’s Graduates program 11 years ago. JAG is a national public-private partnership that prevents high school students from dropping out through career counseling, job shadowing and more.
The Wagner program’s success inspired the Senate Education committee to unanimously approve a bill establishing a statewide JAG program in the Department of Education.
Senate Bill 39 also establishes a full-time JAG coordinator position within the Department of Education, and a special donation fund for the program.
Renee Van Der Werff is a JAG specialist at Wagner Highschool. She says nationally, JAG students have a 96% graduation rate and an 84% placement rate in the military, workforce, or college.
She says those rates for Wagner’s students are even higher.
“I’d love to pull out a photo album and brag about my kids just like every parent or grandparent likes to do. But I’m going to tell you just a few things that my kids have accomplished—and these are Wagner kids.”
A few examples are the first Indigenous student from the state to study abroad as a Rotary International Scholar…students representing JAG nationally in D.C….and nine accepted to the Crazy Horse summer program.
But that success means Wagner administrators are fielding questions from other districts interested in JAG programs. Principal Neil Goter says that shouldn’t happen.
“We seem to be the so-called experts in it, so we take all the phone calls, we take all the how do you do this. And those are things that should come from the leadership at the state level: our leadership conferences for our students, our PD for our advisers. Those should come from the state level. Those shouldn’t come from us.”
Students agree. Wagner senior Payton Mora says it’s difficult attending national conferences without a representative.
“So I think that with the help from the state we can all help grow as a state in JAG and help grow nationally.”
There was no opposing testimony, and the committee passed the bill unanimously to the Senate floor.