Palmerton Area School District has the highest percentage of students attending Carbon Career and Technical Institute, but a CCTI teacher would like to see more Palmerton freshmen touring the Jim Thorpe school.

According to Anna Leigh Conway, Palmerton is the only sending school that does not have all of its freshmen students tour the school."Knowing that most people wouldn't send their child to a college without seeing it first, I'd like to see all the Palmerton students afforded the same opportunity as other districts," Conway said during a Palmerton board meeting Tuesday night.The most recent numbers show Palmerton students make up 27 percent of CCTI's population. The district currently sends 118 students to the school in three buses each day.Palmerton Superintendent Scot Engler said all freshmen have the opportunity to sign up for a tour of CCTI, but the district has opted not to make it mandatory."Our students have multiple opportunities to go up there," Engler said. We've had discussions and if the students know they are on a different track, why would we compel them to do a tour?"Conway said tours are typically done on an Act 80 day when school is not in session, but students are on site as tour guides."The tours go through each academic area and technical area with various demonstrations and presentations," she said. "Our guidance counselors are here, our principal is here and it is a really beneficial opportunity."A side-by-side analysis shows CCTI and Palmerton with similar scores on state assessments, Conway said."Kids leave CCTI with the same academic opportunities and a certification that makes them job ready," she added.Engler said the numbers indicate Palmerton's enrollment is at a comfortable level."I don't think we're missing anything here," he said. "I could see if our numbers were down, but we send the most amount of students to CCTI. If our numbers drop, maybe that is something to take a look at."