Next month, when classes open in Hamilton schools, the district will no longer run its own career education school for the first time in its history. Instead, it will let Butler Tech operate on its high school campus.
Alf, a Hamilton High School graduate, former teacher, principal and top district official, was recently sworn onto the governing board of Butler Tech as Hamilton’s first representative.
For decades, Hamilton was the only school system in Butler County to not partner with Butler Tech, preferring to maintain its own program housed in its Career Technical Education school next to Hamilton High School.
The merger, which became official July 1, is “is tremendous for our community and our students,” said Alf, who started teaching in the city schools in the 1970s.
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“This has been a vision of our community since I was a teacher in the ’70s … and now is the time,’ Alf said, describing the widely recognized Butler Tech school system as a “lighthouse district in the country, receiving constantly national recognition.”
Butler Tech is one of Ohio’s largest career school systems and in recent years has been lauded by state and federal school officials – most recently during a campus visit by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – and U.S. Senator Rob Portman.
For the first time Hamilton students will have access to more than a half dozen Butler Tech career education programs on its high school campus as well as dozens of other career track learning courses on five other campus spread throughout the county.
Jon Graft, superintendent of Butler Tech, said both Hamilton schools and Butler Tech are fortunate to have someone with Alf’s long and wide-ranging experience joining its school board.
“Mr. Alf’s experience as an administrator will bode well for both Hamilton and Butler Tech during the first year of this career tech merger between the two districts,” said Graft.
“Mr. Alf’s numerous years of experience in public education shows his willingness to do what’s best for students and we are thrilled that his dedication firmly matches Butler Tech’s mission of transforming lives,” said Graft.
Alf, who has been in public education for 50 years and is finishing up his first term on Hamilton’s school board, said “our entire community is soaring … and now we have the spaceship (that is) Butler Tech and we are ready to fly.”
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