Progress reported on county Career Center at FSCC

llege President Clayton Tatro discussed progress being made on the Bourbon County Career Center during the FSCC Board of Trustees regular meeting Monday night.

Previous discussions have centered on a technical education facility in Bourbon County, which would have featured programs offered by FSCC to high school juniors and seniors. During his report, Tatro said a separate off-campus facility to house programs offered by FSCC for the Bourbon County Career Center will likely not happen in the coming year.

According to Tatro, the decision to name it the Bourbon County Career Center was a "consensus decision" by the workforce development group. City Manager Dave Martin said leaders of the group include Heather Griffith, Fort Scott director of economic development and Randy Rockhold, Uniontown High School principal and USD 235 superintendent. Members of the group, which is not considered a formalized group, were initially looking to build a separate facility in Bourbon County. The workforce development group has also spearheaded the peer mentoring program.

"In light of conversations recently, it's possible and probable that it won't be a (technical education) center," Tatro told The Tribune Tuesday. "What we're looking at right now is the idea of making programming available for high school students that would be on the (FSCC) main campus. At this point, it's possible and maybe even likely that we may not have a separate facility."

For the Bourbon County Career Center, four programs will be offered this fall at the FSCC main campus. The programs include welding, carpentry, manicuring and allied health.

"The plan is to offer all four of those to high school (junior and senior) students on our main campus for fall of '14 and spring of '15, as part of Senate Bill 155 -- and making sure that we're making as many programs available locally (as we can)," Tatro said. "For those four programs, we have committed. I essentially committed last night and we're going to definitely offer those four programs."

Because the college currently offers the four programs on campus, Tatro said it would be "just a matter of building a schedule that works."

Tatro discussed the importance of Senate Bill 155 in an editorial in Saturday's edition of the Fort Scott Tribune. Tatro also confirmed the schools with involvement in the Bourbon County Career Center will be Fort Scott High School (USD 234), Uniontown High School (USD 235), Pleasanton High School (USD 344), Prairie View High School (USD 362) and Jayhawk-Linn High School (USD 346).

"If they can make it work on campus, we'll do it, that's great," Martin said. "I proposed some ideas to Clayton on how he might be able to make it work with Fort Scott Community College property."

Other Trustees business

* The board unanimously approved proposed tuition and fees for the 2014-15 school year. Trustee John Bartelsmeyer motioned with trustee Jim Sather seconding the motion. Tuition per credit hour will see a $1 hike. Tuition per credit hour changes are: In-District (Bourbon County) $47 to $48, In-State $50 to $51, Contiguous State $78 to $79, Out-of State, $106 to $107, International $128 to $129. Fees per credit hour will increase from $40 to $41. The online (course) fee will remain the same at $30 per credit hour.

"We'll go up a dollar on tuition and a dollar on fees," Tatro said. "Of the dollar on fees, 50 cents will go to student scholarships and 50 cents will go to student technology."

* After a motion from trustee Mark McCoy which was seconded by Bartelsmeyer, the board unanimously approved proposed miscellaneous fees for the 2014-15. These fees include: ISF check charge, transcript fee, international student application fee, graduate testing fee and stall rental. The only change in price was to the graduate testing fee, which increased from $20 to $25.

* The board unanimously approved proposed dorm fees for the 2014-15 year. The motion was made by trustee Dick Hedges and seconded by McCoy. The food plan for Greyhound Hall (room and board) will see a slight increase from its current $2,350 to $2,380. Boileau Hall will also see a slight increase for the room and board plan going from $2,710 to $2,740 for the 2014-15 school year. The six-week Trucking Meals (80 meal plan) will increase from $289 to $300.

* The board unanimously approved proposed program fees for 2014-15 school year. Changes for this include: Cosmetology uniforms and smock, $125; Cosmetology roll-about (Fort Scott only), $125; EWT full semester class (tuition and fees) went from $1,175 plus books to $1,196 plus books; ATI test fee for TEAS-V (pass through) -July 1 start went from $40 to $45; Nursing program and lab fee (fall/spring only) went from $500 to $550, Truck refresher course per week is $500; Harley-Davidson program lab fee (Inc. Part Smart/Talon) $175 to $200; Harley Davidson manual fee (one-time) $100 to $120; Harley Davidson multimeter (one-time) $160.

* The board approved a memorandum of understanding between FSCC and the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center (Greenbush). According to information provided by FSCC, it was the recommendation of the administration to approve the memorandum of understanding.

"Dr. Ralph Beacham will be providing general supervision for the (Water Treatment) training grant beginning March 1, 2014 and expiring June 30, 2015. Total compensation to Greenbush will be $40,000."

Trustee Sather abstained from the vote.

* During his report, Tatro reported a new FSCC billboard is located along U.S. 54.

* Trustee John Kerr was not present at the meeting. An attempt to teleconference Kerr into the meeting was unsuccessful.