Timeline

Expansion and cut the ribbon

• Summer program expansion (programs and enrollment capacity).
• Opportunities to celebrate the physical completion of Maritime|253 Skills Center, Port of Tacoma Maritime Center, and community-centered campus experience.

April 1, enrollment for Summer 2026 programming opens, with a priority deadline of April 30.

March 1 is priority enrollment deadline for 2026-2027 school year.

November 2025, enrollment application opens for 2026-2027 school year

Maritime | 253 summer programming launch

• Summer program expansion to serve approximately 300 students from all Maritime|253 partner districts that will offer designed skills center summer programming to include credit towards graduation, with aligned dual credit and industry recognized credentials (IRC). Summer enrollment will launch early 2025 with simultaneous access to program enrollment for the Fall of 2025.

Submission, Celebration & Showcase

• Curriculum (specifically CTE frameworks) ranging in 540 hour to 1,080 hour experience builds (with aligned Credentials, course equivalencies, and dual credit opportunities) will be delivered to OSPI for authorization by the established April 2025 deadline.
• All programming will be presented to a variety of stakeholders in various settings and events scheduled through the first half of 2025.
• Marketing, communication and enroll students for Summer 2025 sessions and Fall 2025 programming. Continued increases in Tacoma Flex digital learning will also continue throughout the Spring of 2025.
• Phase one of staffing and support model implementation.

Dream. Design. Deliver.

• Experience mapping, curriculum design, framework development, and post-diploma alignment ramp up with rich opportunities to infuse educators, industry partners, students, and community stakeholders in the process of mapping the holistic experience of each learner.
• Pathway focuses: Advanced Manufacturing, Transportation, Logistics, Technology, and Sustainability
• Identify and solidify interim Skills Center sites for 2025-2026 school year, with participation from all partner districts.
• Tacoma Flex pilot programs with partner districts will launch with personalized design for each individual district.

Expanded Offerings

• We have expanded summer programming pilots to enhance our current maritime offerings and will pilot within Tacoma to include partner district involvement, student reflection, and increase industry partner presence.
• Programs: Merchant Mariner (MMC), Warehouse Logistics, Electrical Interim Credential, Forklift Certification, Plumbers and Pipefitters, Unmanned Vehicles/Remotely Operated Vehicles, and Wildland Fire.

Summer Credentialed Programming

Setting the stage, priming the pump

• Throughout (ongoing) the first part of 2024, our focus has been on resource gathering, site visits, product exploration, innovative equipment demos, and priming for experience and curriculum design phase to commence during the 2024-2025 school year.
• Partner development and participation continue at the core of this project and with a database of nearly 150 district, industry, and community stakeholders, possibility thresholds continue to land in the realm of limitless possibility.
• Grant and expanding funding capacity also have increased during this phase of the build process to ensure all aspects of development are covered.

OSPI Authorizations

• TPS granted two-year conditional approval of the skill center’s core programs from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)
• BNBuilders/TCF Architecture selected as the design-build team for the project.
• Engage Design Teams: Create Framework and Curriculum for Our Focus Areas:
  • Advanced Manufacturing and Skilled Trades
  • Maritime Operations, Transportation and Logistics
  • Maritime/Marine Science Technology
  • Maritime Sustainability
• Solidify agreements: Interdistrict Partners, Community Partners and Accompanying Partnership Agreements

Partnership & Exploration

• Engaged in conversations with the Port of Tacoma as partners in the conceptual ideation of a Maritime-focused Skills Center to serve learners through Pierce County and the South Puget Sound.
• Explored district interest for partnership across South Puget Sound - with excited support and interest in participation.
• Developed industry and community stakeholders for contributions in progressing our application to deliver an innovative maritime skills center.

And so it began...

• Embarked on our official exploratory journey of bringing a Maritime Skills Center to the South Puget Sound region.
• Began with feasibility study that included synthesis of recently concluded workforce development initiatives by the Port of Tacoma and Port of Seattle.
• Infused findings that only affirmed our hypothesis of opportunities that aligned with career pathways and workforce development into the development of our official OSPI Skills Center application.

• Acquired legislative funding to explore, assess feasibility, and design.
• Establish/assign capacity within Tacoma Public Schools Career & Technical Education Team
• Foster relationships, begin building a network of invested stakeholders (South Puget Sound region)
• Review professional landscape in the Maritime industry (South Puget Sound Region)