Carpentry students gain flooring skills through training program

Carpentry students at Jefferson County Joint Vocational School are building skills from the ground up after taking part in a professional floor-covering training program.

Instructor Dave Lucas said about a dozen pupils participated in the program in April, when they were involved in short-term, hands-on courses taught by certified flooring installers and completed a flooring replacement project in the main office.

It began with discussions among JVS officials; Mark Farnsworth, president of Floorcovering Basics; and Emily Boyer, adult education coordinator with Tri-County Career Center in Nelsonville. Farnsworth developed the training program and received funding from the Ohio Department of Labor, which enabled him to partner with Boyer at TCCC and other facilities to help build the workforce.

The program began working with three juvenile detention centers to get 200 youths on the right path, then headed to TCCC, where 100 students age 14 and older took part in an effort from The GRIT Project.

“There’s a lack of tradesmen in the flooring business, and this is a program Farnsworth had because there’s a need in Ohio. The trade is in big demand,” Lucas said. “The state gave funding to get the program going, and two professional floor layers came in to train the students for a week. Then the students completed the project over three weeks.”

The master installers conducted the session April 13-17 but remained on site as pupils removed carpeting, sanded and scraped the floor and added clear sealants and new flooring across 1,500 square feet, including the main office, its hallway and a room. The JVS procured flooring materials for the upgrade, while Lucas and aide John Eick also were on hand.

At the completion, each student gained an International Certified Flooring Installers certification, as well as the Trained Floorcovering Professional designation. Graduates also will be added to Trade Tap, World Floorcovering’s employment agency for the flooring industry. High-demand careers pay between $45,000 and $100,000 annually and can set workers up for a successful future.

“The main objective is to put more new members in the flooring trade,” Lucas said. “If there is enough interest, the students could attend a four- to five-week training in the summer to become certified.”

He also was pleased with the work his class performed.

“The trainers worked with the kids, and the kids worked hard,” Lucas said. “It was a great experience.”

Superintendent Ted Gorman said Farnsworth approached the school with the opportunity to learn a valuable skill and earn certification.

“This experience gave our students the chance to learn in the classroom and then apply those skills on an actual job site, which is exactly the kind of real-world learning we want to provide,” Gorman said. “I want to thank Mark Farnsworth, president of Floorcovering Basics, and Emily Boyer from Tri-County Career Center for helping bring this opportunity to Jefferson County JVS. Their support made it possible for our students to gain valuable experience while completing a flooring installation project right here at our school.”

He added that the instructor and installers who worked with the students were outstanding and did a fantastic job teaching students the proper skills and expectations of the flooring industry.

“This is what career-technical education is all about: students learning a skill, working alongside professionals and seeing the results of their hard work in a finished project they can be proud of.”

Farnsworth said there was a great need for more tradesmen, and the training will help fill the void.

“When you look at high schools and colleges, no one teaches the floor-covering trade, but floor covering is everywhere,” he said. “Ohio is the first state to implement the program, and The Ohio State University uses my manual.”

Pupils gain insight about sales and estimation to inspection, getting them one step closer to a career that starts at $40 per hour.

“I think our taxpayer money is going to skilled trades because that is what the government is pushing. We’re aging out, and we’re supposed to be passing this down,” Farnsworth said. “They will get international certificates, and the credential they get replaces their electrical license. Everyone would also be part of the World Floorcovering Association. We’re doing this all over the U.S., but Ohio is the start of everything.”