The second phase, which will run from 2017 through 2021, will be geared toward the implementation, support and evaluation of these programs.Vernon is already up to a year ahead of schedule, with the district having done much of the pre-planning for an anticipated rollout in September of five new career and technical education programs at Vernon Township High School.Charles McKay, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said the five programs being planned are engineering; web page, digital and multimedia informational resource design; construction engineering; hospitality administration management; and allied health and health sciences.The programs, which McKay had previously likened to college majors, will require completion of a three-course sequence along with membership in a student organization related to one’s field of study and an internship with an industry partner.The hospitality administration program, McKay said, will be run in partnership with Mountain Creek resort, whose new ownership DiBenedetto described as having been “outrageously great to work with.”For the allied health and health sciences program, the district will be partnering with local doctors and ambulance squads.Further electives also are being planned that will enable students to enhance their respective areas of concentration, which are being developed with additional input from a team of three K-12 curricular supervisors consisting of Math Director Russ Rogers and Science Supervisor Daniel Osenni along with Joseph Piccirillo, the district’s supervisor of business and fine, practical and performing arts.Each of the five programs being planned will offer concurrent credits with various universities as well.McKay indicated specifically that the hospitality program’s course structure will be aligned with concurrent courses offered by Fairleigh Dickinson University and Sussex County Community College. The allied health program will be aligned with Rutgers University, from which students will be able to receive 14 college credits usable at Rutgers or any other state college.DiBenedetto said the total out-of-pocket cost for students to earn these college credits will be the $100 fee to take an occupational assessment exam in their chosen field, which will be a condition for receiving college credit once the courses have been completed.While participation in the programs will be optional, students completing the requirements will receive a certificate in their chosen field along with a standard high school diploma upon graduation. Such a student may decide he or she loves the field or, conversely, “that medical studies are not the best selection,” he said.But, he observed, “It is much better to make such a decision in high school than in one’s second year of college.”Other school districts selected to receive grants through the state-funded pilot program were Northern Valley Regional High School, in Bergen County; Cumberland Regional High School, in Cumberland County; the Orange Public School District, in Essex County; the Freehold Regional High School and Ocean Township school districts, in Monmouth County; the Passaic School District, in Passaic County; and the Elizabeth Public Schools, in Union County.New Jersey Education Commissioner David Hespe, in a statement accompanying the announcement, touted the grant program as an example of continued efforts by Gov.