A job-market study has validated the overall direction of A.W. Beattie Career Center's vocational-technical curriculum. But the McCandless school might consider offering more business-oriented courses that nurture entrepreneurship, according to the report by the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board.

"Beattie's programs are in line with the regional labor market," said Three Rivers executive director Ron Painter, including those in early childhood education, culinary arts, information technology and cosmetology.

Mr. Painter targeted the 25 percent of all jobs here that would be filled by students in vo-tech or two-year associate programs.

But he also identified 18 "hot" occupations that, with additional skill sets, Beattie students might be more in line to pursue. The bottom line: Eight of those 18 involve business administration.

The Beattie board also is mulling a report prepared by construction managers representing most of the nine districts that send students to Beattie. The report suggested ways to trim at least a half-million dollars from the $22 million project to upgrade the nearly 40-year-old school by reusing some of the existing duct work, copper plumbing, bathroom fixtures and heating/ventilation/air-conditioning units.

"After careful study and thorough discussion, the task force concurs with the scope of work as presented, in that it appears to address the majority of the problems with the building's aging infrastructure," the report concluded.

The savings would have been even more substantial except that the estimates had to be adjusted for 18 months of inflation, a reflection of the time-critical nature of the work that has fallen about a year behind.

The central theme of the Three Rivers report, meanwhile, was instilling a spirit of entrepreneurship among Beattie graduates.

Mr. Painter said it could be critical for anyone from an auto body trainee who becomes an insurance adjuster to a cosmetologist who wants to open a beauty salon.

"The apprenticeship model is dying," he said, and the onus of interdisciplinary career development is now on the back of independent contractors.

"But we again think that's an opportunity for Beattie," Mr. Painter said, because students are "going to have to find that skill set somewhere ... if not provided by the company, the individual is going to have to find it on their own."

The idea that Beattie might want to become more business-minded prompted debate over how the renovation project should be affected by that vision.

Applause greeted Pine-Richland School District Superintendent James Manley, who like his peer at Avonworth, Valerie McDonald, envisioned a Beattie that could serve certain college students.

"There's no reason why college students can't come to Beattie, participate in the trades and get down and dirty, learn what the trades are all about.

"I see Beattie as a viable place for these kids, where they can come to see what's it all about. This is where we're headed," he said, adding, "I think we're in a great position to take that leap to give those kids a great opportunity."

Dr. McDonald agreed and offered the experience of her daughter, a recent Syracuse University graduate who is a management trainee at UPS.

Her daughter was surprised when she was told she not only had to ride in the truck but also drive the truck and hang out on the loading docks.

"She had to wear 'browns' like everyone else," Dr. McDonald said, because ground-level understanding of workplace logistics has become essential for managers.

"All those things that we're talking about here, had she come to Beattie, they would've been less foreign to her," she said.

All of that was fine, countered Northgate delegate Keith Egyed, who worried that such a "warm and fuzzy" vision had little to do with the problem.

"There are things in this project that should be removed, that should come out," he said. "More light poles in this parking lot, that's not the answer to anything."

The original timetable showed the project's feasibility study being approved next month. Now, school boards in the nine districts are expected to reconsider the plan by March, which, if approved, would allow the architect to begin design.

That's the critical phase in complying with the state Department of Education's 2005 mandate that safety and overcrowding improvements be made at Beattie.

The jobs report by the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board is considered significant because without it, the boards in districts including Fox Chapel Area, Hampton and North Allegheny had opposed the latest plan for improvements.

If Beattie doesn't comply with the audit's findings, it risks state funding cuts, enrollment caps and staff furloughs. Construction is set to be completed by November 2010.