Planners continue to work feverishly to have at least three courses in place by this fall at a technical education center in LaHarpe.
Jack Koehn, USD 257 superintendent of schools, updated Board of Education members Monday on recent developments, including a curveball thrown the school district’s way.
The tech ed center is a cooperative venture featuring a number of area school districts, including all three in Allen County (USD 257, Marmaton Valley-USD 256 and Humboldt-USD 258) as well as Allen, Neosho and Fort Scott community colleges.
The center would be geared to provide more extensive instruction than basic high school courses, with students earning either college credit or other certification, and thus be more employable upon graduation. Instruction would be provided by the community colleges, through the state’s Senate Bill 155, which provides higher education funds to the colleges for technical education offerings.
Plans for the tech ed center hit high gear in recent months after LaHarpe businessman Ray Maloney acquired the old Diebolt Lumber facility and offered it up for the districts to use.
Representatives from each district met Monday morning, Koehn said, and defined the three courses they planned to offer at the outset: construction trades, welding and nursing.
“If we can get (the building) up to code on construction trades and welding, everything else would be up to code, too,” Koehn said. Other courses, such as HVAC repair, will be put on the back burner for now.
But a new sticking point has emerged: who will pay for necessary upgrades to the old Dieboldt building.
One contractor’s estimate noted the Diebolt property may require as much as $150,000 worth of upgrades before it is considered “up to code,” Koehn said. Most prominent on the list is that the property have three-phase electric power instead of the existing singe-phase electric service.
“We’ve asked repeatedly what the commitment from the USDs would be,” Koehn said. “And the answer was ‘all you need to provide is students.’”
However, the community colleges entered the discussions under the impression that the Diebolt facility would be suitable for the CTE center without substantial upgrades.
“In their defense, I’d feel the same way,” Koehn said. “I’d be a little leery of putting $150,000 into a building I don’t own.”
On the other hand, Koehn noted a similar CTE center in Crawford County — one in which the local center would be modeled after — does not have upgraded electrical service.
“How can they get welders certified, and do it on single-phase, and we need three-phase?” Koehn asked. “Nobody could explain it to me.
“I’m still not convinced the building is as far away from being up to code as what has been said,” Koehn said. “I’ve toured the Crawford facility and the Diebolt facility is much better.”
Koehn said he hopes to have an itemized list in hand soon of what is needed to be done to the facility.
