High School Advisory Boards with Patterson High School CDL Instructor Dave Dein

Dave Dein, the CDL coordinator and instructor at Patterson High School in California, shares his experience with forming an advisory board for their truck driving program. The advisory board consists of local trucking companies who contribute to the program and help guide its development. They meet quarterly or every six months and have ongoing conversations outside of official meetings. The industry partners participate in various ways, including guest speaking, field trips, and drop-ins to interact with students. The advisory board meetings include reviewing previous notes, updates from instructors and students, and planning for the career fair available to all students. The logistics program also focuses on resume writing and interview skills with assistance from industry partners through mock interviews.

The career fair is an opportunity for students to showcase their preparedness and secure job offers. A wide variety of jobs are available for students, but some require them to be at least 18 years old. The logistics program educates industry partners about alternative ways to involve younger individuals in the industry. Students value career paths over just jobs because they offer advancement opportunities and learning experiences. Building relationships with employees through advisory boards helps retain talent and creates a sense of community. The CT director manages the advisory board, which includes scheduling meetings and providing lunch incentives. The president of the advisory board plays a crucial role in promoting programs across the district and supporting teachers by meeting specific needs like providing trucks or organizing gifts for students in need. It's important to have supportive members on the advisory board who share a passion for advancing education in trucking. Networking is key to finding suitable candidates, even salespeople can contribute valuable insights as part of an advisory board. Virtual meetings can make participation more convenient for industry professionals while still allowing face-to-face interactions when necessary.

1.  Establishing an Advisory Board: Dave mentioned the importance of bringing in the trucking voice into the advisory board and finding local trucking companies that would embrace and contribute to the program. The action item would be for schools to identify relevant industry partners and invite them to join the advisory board.

2. Industry Participation: Dave emphasized the importance of industry partners being actively involved in the program. This involvement can include guest speaking engagements, field trips to industry sites, and drop-ins to interact with students. The action item would be for schools to encourage industry partners to participate in these activities to provide hands-on experiences and build relationships with students.

3. Networking and Finding Supportive Members: Dave emphasized the need to network within the industry to identify individuals who have a passion for the program and are willing to support it. The action item would be for schools to actively reach out to potential advisory board members, make connections, and invite those who are enthusiastic about the program to join the board.

4. Leveraging Advisory Board Support: Dave mentioned how he leaned on the advisory board for support when facing challenges, such as securing a running truck for teaching purposes. 

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Transcript

Lindsey Trent:
Hey, we're here with Nextgen talks, and I'm excited to have Dave Dein on the podcast. Today. We're going to talk about all things advisory boards. We want to help schools form amazing advisory boards. That's not a chore, but somebody, a group of people that they're going to help you, they're going to contribute to your program. And so Dave has some great experience with this, and he's just going to share with us today about advisory boards. 

Dave Dein:
Hi, I'm Dave Dein. I'm the CDL coordinator and instructor at Patterson High School, located here in Patterson, California. 

Lindsey Trent:
Okay, so tell us a little bit about your program. How long have you been doing it, what you're teaching and that sort of thing? 

Dave Dein:
Yeah, so we launched the program seven years ago. Prior to starting the truck driving program, our district had a supply chain and logistics management program. So it was really a nice kind of a fit to all that. They were teaching warehousing skills and also forklift certification, but we saw the need to adding that third component. So seven years ago, we launched one of the nation's first high school truck driving programs. As far as our core curriculum, what we do is we teach the entry level driver training standards, or ELDT, but we do it in a very hands on, interactive way. So we're doing the classroom, the 30 portion. We also prepare students for their commercial learners permit. We have two driving similars on site. We have three trucks on site.  But like I say, we don't teach behind the wheel training or the classroom or three portion. But we do use the trucks on school property. So we use them primarily for the air brake inspections, the pre trip inspections, and also we can do some limited backing here on school property. 

Lindsey Trent:
That's great, Dave. So when you started this program seven years ago, you fit within the supply chain and logistics pathway. You already had an advisory board established. Right. What did you do to contribute to having an advisory board starting for your program? 

Dave Dein:
Yeah. So we knew there was a need to bring in the trucking voice into this advisory board. So went out and we looked at some of our local trucking companies, and there's some people I knew over the years. I've been in trucking since 1988, so I had a lot of prior contacts. But we're looking for those companies that were really going to be not only embracing what we're doing, but also to be a part of what we're doing. And I think that's the key in all this, is that I know a lot of schools, they have requirements as far as you need an advisory board. And it's almost like checking off a box, so to speak. We wanted something a little bit more and something a little more real, I guess.  And it's so important to let these advisory boards kind of help guide the program. It's really about giving them that space to actually help you create a program. And that's what we did with the trucking. We had our trucking advisory board, a part of our supply chain logistics advisory board. We met with them even before we launched the program here at Patterson High School, and we kind of started brainstorming as far as, what are you looking for in a recent CDL graduate? And we got a lot of those, I guess, expected answers as far as teaching the basic skill sets. But then we got some of those unexpected answers. So many of our industry partners, they were looking for somebody that really had those soft skills, and we kind of took that to heart. So we created an umbrella program for the truck driving.  We call it leadership in motion, which is really based on the professional driver qualities. But we would have never have done that if it wasn't for those early conversations, meeting with those industry partners. And as we developed this program over the last seven years, that process continues. It's not like we had the initial meeting. We got their feedback and we moved on. We did what we want. They're still a part of that ongoing process of developing this program, and they've been instrumental in helping us make some decisions as far as, okay, what are the next steps? One of the worst things you can ever do is become complacent.  And so now we're looking at developing a two year program so we can actually start working with individuals at a junior level and really kind of give them more of an overview, a broad overview of the logistics industry, but also incorporate some of those skill sets that would also make them a more valuable employee. So we're looking at things such as CPR training, basic first aid. We're looking at creating a program on entrepreneurship. And what are the steps it takes to actually say, start your own trucking mean? That's all credit given to our advisory boards. 

Lindsey Trent:
That's great, Dave. So, how many meetings do you have a year with your advisory board? 

Dave Dein:
So, currently, we work quarterly. For a while during COVID we switched to every six months, which is fine. I think quarterly would probably be a little bit more effective. I think just because we have these meetings, it doesn't mean we're still not meeting with employers. And it's really those side conversations that have a lot of value. And even when we plan our advisory board meetings, when I schedule out my day, I schedule in an extra hour at the conclusion of the meeting, because I know there's a lot of important conversations that happen after the official meeting that is still really a part about helping us develop this program. And so even though we currently have these meetings every six months, it doesn't mean the conversation doesn't continue the rest of the time. 

Lindsey Trent:
Well, and that's a great point, Dave. So you have these advisory board meetings. How do those people that are on your advisory board, do they do other things to participate within your program, like come and speak? Do you go on field trips? How else do you interact with your advisory board members? 

Dave Dein:
Yeah, that's the great thing about our industry partners is that they are invested into our program. The key with this whole thing being successful is really, it comes back to relationship building. And our industry partners know this. They know the more facetime they get with our students, the more time they're interacting with the students, the more likely the students are going to be willing to go to that company, because our students, the graduates, are going to go to where they feel more comfortable and familiar. We do have our industry partners, some of our industry partners, they'll do some just drop ins, and they might just come in and hang out for an hour. It's more of an informal. They might share something going on with their company, sometimes more if it's a scheduled.  Wherever they come in as a guest speaker, we definitely go out and we visit them on site. And the great thing about the industry partners we work with when we go out, it's not, say, a typical field trip where they just kind of show us the grounds, and this is what we do and how we do it. They take the time to create something authentic for our students, which is some sort of a hands on engagement activity. Our students, they want to feel connected. They want to do something, they want to learn something. And so all of our industry partners do something unique. It could be refrigeration or flatbed, but they create something during that time where they come out and our students are going to have an experience.  And it could be learning how to tie down a load using chain binders, how to troubleshoot a reefer if it's not working properly. But when they leave, actually, they felt like they got something out of that experience. 

Lindsey Trent:
That's a really great point. I love that is having a field trip. Obviously, you don't want them to sit down and be presented to the whole time in a field trip, but you want them to do hands on and actually learn something. I just participated in a field trip with Gordon Food service in our school district that has a trucking program, and they brought out three trucks and trailers. They were lined up in a row. It was a Volvo truck, a freight liner, and a Kenworth. The freight liner was a 2024, so we're not even in that year. It was just coming in. They were in servicing the vehicle, and it had very few miles on it. How excited do you think these students were to sit in that brand new freight liner? 

Dave Dein:
Yes. 

Lindsey Trent:
So they got up in that. We took their pictures. We taught them how to do a three points of contact getting in and out of the truck. So it was that hands on learning. And they talked about the truck and the engine and all the parts. So one of the things I loved about that is I saw some of these students, their eyes lit up, and they were maybe a little shy, I could tell, but I kind of encouraged them. I said, oh, you need to go sit in the truck. And they were like, really? And I said, yes, and let me take your picture. So I took their phone and I took their picture in that truck. I saw several students making it their screen saver on their phone because they were proud.  They want to take this trucking class, and they're like, this is something that they want to do as their career. And they were excited to sit up in there. And I had a student sit up there for ten minutes, just looking around and honking the horn and doing all the things, starting it. It was really cool, very special, and I love that. Hands on. So you do field trips, you have people come in as guest speakers. You said you have people drop in. Do they really just drop in? And they haven't pre warned. They just know you're going to be in class. 

Dave Dein:
Sometimes they might be traveling through the area. They'll give me a heads up. They'll let me know sometimes an hour out or so. And they say, hey, I'll be coming by. I say, great, check them, sign in the office. We'll see you when you get here. That's great. 

Lindsey Trent:
They're a part of your advisory board. They just, hey, I'm in your area. Can I just stop in? And that's interacting with the students and seeing what you all are doing. I love that idea. So tell me, your advisory board meetings, how are they structured? Do you guys offer virtual, do they have a virtual component? 

Dave Dein:
Yeah, we had to go virtual during COVID But as far as the structure, the way our advisory board is written is that it's somebody from the industry has to be the president of that advisory board. So it's not somebody from our district can take that leadership role, which is good, because it creates more buy in from the industry. Usually we begin, we look at, review, the board meeting notes from last time. We always bring in the instructors that teach the three courses here at Patterson High School. We always provide an update. Sometimes we bring in students and let them kind of share a little bit about what they're learning in the program. All of our industry partners are invited to our career fair, which happens at the end of the school year. 

Lindsey Trent:
Okay. 

Dave Dein:
And we get them to participate in that, and that's always a huge success. And I think last year, we had 23 of our industry partners that participated in the career fair. 

Lindsey Trent:
Great. So how is your career set up? 

Dave Dein:
So it's actually available to our entire school. And, of course, the students that are graduating from the logistics program, this is something they've been working towards their entire school year. So, part of the curriculum in all of our logistics programs, we do focus on resume writing. We do interviews. In fact, some of our industry partners will come in and they'll do mock interviews with our students, which is really beneficial and helpful. And they'll actually will set it up in front of a class where we have one of our industry partners. We'll bring a student up who feels that they're pretty confident or interview, and then the industry partner will kind of go through that interview, and he'll stop it from time to time, and he'll give feedback as far as what the person is doing, correct or incorrect things they can make improvements upon.  He's also telling the audience why he's asking specific questions and the purpose for those questions, so they can kind of get a better idea of what an interview, the purpose of an interview is and how they should really present themselves during that process. As far as the career fair, it's always interesting because the industry partners, they can tell immediately who is a graduate of the logistics program and who is just a senior who's getting ready to graduate high school just based on how they present themselves and the questions that they are asking industry partners. So it's pretty obvious that who's prepared for this event? But many of our students are offered jobs on site. They do informal interviews during the job fair, and many of our students are offered positions during that career fair. 

Lindsey Trent:
Do you ever have any juniors that go to the career fair and get summer jobs? Or are most of the jobs only 18 that can work in the warehouse. 

Dave Dein:
Yeah. A wide variety of jobs are available to students. For all the positions, 18 years old is the minimum, is an age requirement. But, yeah, everything from seasonal full time, part time work in all areas of truck driving and the logistics and the forklifting. Now, one of the things that's really unique about when we do meet with our industry partners is that there have been some times where we go to a company and we say, hey, we would love to have you be a part of our advisory board and be an industry partner. And they said, well, we can't hire at 18. You got to be 21 to drive truck for us. We know this going in.  We know what the requirements are, but we have to educate them as far as, well, there's other things you can do now to bring people into your industry. And if you don't bring people into this industry, I can guarantee you they're going to go down a different career path. And so it's in your best interest to take the time to think about what are the skill sets you can teach people as they're waiting to turn 21 years old. And so that's opened up a lot of doors for our students. And I think ultimately you're going to have a better driver in the future anyways.  If you know somebody that knows how to work the product, who knows how to deal with product issues, somebody who's maybe worked in the shop, that knows how to take care of and maintain the vehicle and repair vehicles, and somebody who's worked in the office, who knows the paperwork side. And so what it is for our students is that if they know they're being offered a career path, it's so much different than being offered a job. A job. Often there's always room for advancement and growth, but it's not specifically laid out with a career path. Our students can look on paper that says, okay, I'm going to be in this position for six months.  If I meet your expectations and standards, then I can move up to the next level and I'm going to take on this role, which usually involves more responsibility, possibly a pay increase, but they're learning skill sets along the way. But everything leads to a class a driving position. And what you're doing during that time is you're mentoring, you're guiding, and most importantly, you're building those relationships. And when you build a relationship with an employee, they're less likely to leave. 

Lindsey Trent:
Right. Because it's just not a job. They feel like they're a part of that community. They're a part of that family, so to speak. 

Dave Dein:
Yeah, I just love that. And I personally, the advisory boards I'm a part of, I love being able to meet the students and start to build a relationship with them, start to learn why they're doing what they're doing. A lot of times it's because of a family member that introduced them to the concept of what they're doing now. And it's just fun to get to know them as people and learn about their hopes and dreams. And so one of the things I know that's hard for teachers is forming that advisory board and sending out a group email and sending them the calendar reminder. So what do you do? Do you have a group email? Do you manage that? Does somebody else manage that? How do you take people off and put them on? 

Lindsey Trent:
So how are you constantly doing that type of work on your advisory board? 

Dave Dein:
Yeah, so luckily, our CT director, that's one of her roles and responsibility, is to oversee the advisory board. So she handles all of that administrative work as far as scheduling the meetings. And then one of the things that we always schedule the meetings right around lunchtime, lunch is provided. So it's another incentive. But, yeah, we schedule it for an hour long lunch is provided in that. And then the president, who is somebody from the industry, is actually the president. They actually run the meeting. 

Lindsey Trent:
Okay, so how long has that person been the president of the advisory board and what is their role? 

Dave Dein:
So the current gentleman we have, he's been in that position for a year and a half now. And more than just leading the meeting, which I think is important. More than that, it's really about, you want the person to take that role to be your biggest cheerleader. This is somebody that has great value when they're trying to promote these programs across the district. And so there's times where we take in the president of our advisory board and he will speak at our school board meetings just to let other people know that how important what we're doing is to just not the students, but for our community. And we just got to keep reinforcing that message. And that's the great thing about bringing somebody that has that charisma to really kind of motivate people and to keep the momentum going and keep people excited. 

Lindsey Trent:
I love that. I think that a lot of advisory boards don't have presidents that are industry people. And I think that is a great idea that takes a lot of pressure off of you as the teachers. Right. And that gives that leadership role to somebody in the industry. How closely do you work with your president of your advisory board? 

Dave Dein:
We work very close. Like I say, they're the ones that come in on a regular basis. They'll do the drop ins. They're the guest speakers. Last year, whenever we had one truck at the time and the one truck went down with some major engine issues, and I just threw it out there to our industry partners. And I say I'm in need of a truck pretty desperately because we're teaching some skills. I need a running truck. And within a couple hours, I get an email response back saying, dave, we got you a truck. I'm like, all right, perfect. Thank you. 

Lindsey Trent:
That's awesome. An advisory board that I'm a part of, they sent out an email a couple of weeks ago, and they have some students that have high needs just for food and clothing. And with Christmas time around, they pulled together the advisory board and provided gifts for some of these students. And several of the students, when they asked what they wanted for Christmas, they wanted food, which is just heartbreaking, but getting the industry involved in programs and helping them because they want to give back to their community. And this is a great way for industry and the community to give back is to work with the schools and work with the students and hopefully help create their future workforce. Exactly right. It's one of those things.  I don't want teachers to feel like it's a chore, but I know it is that just an extra added thing that they have to do. But what can we do to make it easier and to create those seamless partnerships where everybody's excited to go to their advisory board meeting and the teacher is excited to have it. Is there any other suggestions that you have to give to teachers about their advisory board? 

Dave Dein:
Just keep reminding yourself the advisory board is your most valuable resource that you have. And I often think about, and I don't want to kind of come across where we just kind of lean on them. We're always looking for something from them. It's a two way street, right. We want to make sure we're providing them with the highest level, skilled employee for them. But there are times where, yeah, we do need something, and it's always great to knowing that you have that support that maybe there's something that the district can't cover due to financial restrictions. I know if I have to, I can lean on an industry partner. And I was thinking about a couple of years ago, I wanted to take a couple of female students and a female chaperone to the women in trucking conference.  And I thought it'd be a great experience for them. And I presented it to our school district and they said, no, you can go if you pay for it. I'm like, all right. So literally, I picked up the phone and I think it was the fourth phone call I made. They said, dave, you tell us a number. We write the. Yeah, we had it covered within like a seven minute of phone. 


Lindsey Trent:
That's just a great point that they're supportive of. How, how do you even figure out who might be a supportive member of your advisory board in your community? Did you google them? How did you do it? 

Dave Dein:
Well, like I say, as I mentioned earlier, luckily being in trucking for since 1988, I had a lot of prior connections in the industry. But along the way, the trucking industry, it's a huge industry, but it's a very small industry. There's certain people that pop up time and time again, and it's really about doing your own networking and finding out you're going to meet people that just have a passion for what the next gen and trucking mission is. Right. So you're going to find people that they want to create this momentum, they want to get this thing rolling, and those are the people that you got to get on board. But a lot of it will just come through very informal conversations.  But as you meet these people and you'll get a sense of what their passion is, definitely invite them to let them be a part of this. 

Lindsey Trent:
Yeah, that's a really good lesson because I've gotten that, too. You might go to a company and you find somebody that they're like, whatever, but it's that next conversation that you have and that person is all on board and ready to get involved. I always had a sales position in my role, but I was involved in my local advisory board within that, because the company I worked for, Ryder, we needed technicians. I knew we needed technicians, and I was already out and about because it was my sales territory. So I could go to a lunch and network with other people at the advisory board meeting, network with the students. And, I mean, it was a win for me as a salesperson. 
So I tell companies this, and I tell schools this is, don't overlook a salesperson because they might be a great fit for your advisory board, but it's about making those phone calls and trying to network and get connections and trying to find those right people who could be a good fit for your advisory board. And several advisory boards I'm on also are all virtual meetings, and so it makes it easier for the people who are participating. You don't even have to leave your office. You can go and talk to the teacher and other advisory board members and help the program all from the comforts of your office. Now I do think it's important at some point to go interact and be face to face but you don't always have to do that.  Yeah well we are excited that you came and helped us and talked to us about advisory boards. It's an ongoing thing that we have to continue to put out there as schools are working with these advisory boards. So thanks for being on the show today and just a minute here. We want to thank our sponsors for our podcast. You can link to the sponsors in our show notes and you can find us on all major podcast platforms and on YouTube on our website on Spotify. And so follow us like us subscribe. Thank you Dave for being on the call today. 


Dave Dein:
Thank you Lindsey. My pleasure.