MORAN — With barely a moment to catch their breath, school officials who worked so fervently to get the new technical education center off the ground this fall are setting their sights on the future.
It’s too soon to tell, however, when the next course offerings — welding, in this case — will begin.
“You know how I feel,” Ray Maloney said Wednesday. “I want to get it going,” and have the welding courses running by the spring semester.
Maloney owns the old Diebolt Lumber facility southeast of LaHarpe, home to the tech ed center.
He spoke Wednesday with school officials from Allen, Neosho and Fort Scott community colleges, Iola, Marmaton Valley and Uniontown school districts, representatives from the Kansas Department of Commerce and Jeff Cokely of the Allen County Community Foundation.
Those players have met on a regular basis for more than a year as the tech ed center went from vision to reality.
Among the topics from Wednesday’s get-together were how students at the tech ed center will be tested in order to earn English or math credits; grant funding possibilities, and how it affects other potential courses; and how the tech ed center will be governed, since so many entities are involved in its operation.
The myriad players are necessary because a unique arrangement in how the tech ed center operates.
The classes, consisting almost entirely of high-school students, are taught by the community colleges (and are considered college courses) because the jucos can earn state funding by doing so. For example, a construction trades course — the only class offered at the center so far — is being taught by Fort Scott Community College.
Administrators from Allen and Neosho are involved as well.
Neosho will handle instruction for the aforementioned welding course, while Allen is expected to offer a certified nurse’s aide and certified medication aide class starting next fall. In addition, the students will be tested for their English and math credits through Allen.
The districts, essentially, are responsible for supplying and transporting students to the center, about a mile southeast of LaHarpe. The colleges hire and pay the instructors.
The center’s opening was made possible after Maloney, owner of Ray’s Metal Depot in LaHarpe, acquired the Diebolt facility early this year, and offered up its use for the school.
Since then, Maloney, et al poured in tens of thousands of dollars to convert the old Diebolt warehouse into a suitable classroom and instruction area.
That’s where Cokely and the Community Foundation enter the picture.
Cokely told the group he expects to secure a $122,000 grant this month from the Goppert Foundation, which would be used to outfit the building with welding equipment and materials.
