James Roberts
Director
207-483-2200

jamesroberts@msad37.org

Jim Roberts is the Director for the Coastal Washington County Institute of Technology (CWCIT). Jim was born and raised in Eastport, Maine and worked the majority of his educational career in Washington County schools.

Jim most recently worked for Maine Indian Education as their IEP special education coordinator and member of the MIE administrative team. The Director's role is multi-faceted.

Jim oversees 11 programs; three located at AOS 96 in Machias High School, including the computer science program, the Aquaculture and Aquaponics program at Jonesport-Beals High School, and the 7 programs held within the Center’s main building located at the 4 Corners in Columbia, Maine.

Jim notes curriculum programming for students is designed with state and industry standards in mind. The intent is to align instruction with state and regional workforce needs. “The skilled labor workforce in Maine and beyond has a critical shortage of candidates. It is our intention to help fill that void where possible.”

“We want to stay current and communicate with local and county workforce agencies, businesses and advisory committees to continue fostering partnerships and at the same time ensuring our curriculum is relevant to industry standards and those required for careers and post-secondary education.”

Day to day operations include student programming, staff supervision, supporting professional development opportunities for instructors, maintaining a budget, overseeing and writing grants, such as the Perkins grant funding and student recruitment. Recruitment includes reaching out to middle school teachers and students across the county from Lubec to Milbridge.

Providing the middle school students and teachers opportunities to visit programs, allows the students to better understand options before they enter high school.

Jim notes that, “We want to continue to expand our dual credit and articulation agreements. This creates more opportunities for students in high school to create viable pathways to post secondary studies.” This will require close communication with local guidance counselors and administrators, as well as post-secondary administrations.

Getting students into local communities to support real world activities, apprenticeships, job shadowing and extended work opportunities will also provide opportunities to showcase the quality instruction students are receiving, as they put their skill acquisition into action.

“We are most fortunate to have a dedicated and talented group of instructors and support personnel. The majority of our instructors come to us with many years of industry training, as well as several having military experiences as veterans.”

“The Coastal Washington County Institute of Technology enrollment is expanding quickly. We look forward to the collaborative opportunities to expand programming even more in the future.”

Jim lives in East Machias with his wife Gail and their son Hunter. When not in the educational setting, Jim enjoys building projects, spending time outdoors, as well as hunting and fishing, especially migratory bird hunting.