Technical College Focus Group Moves Forward: Breaks Bread with Business and Industry Leaders
By Roger McKinney, Reporter

On April 14 of this year a community meeting was held in downtown Falmouth at the old courthouse to discuss the need for and the possible creation of a community and technical college in our county. More than 60 community leaders from all walks of life were involved in this discussion. Several aspects of this need included the following:

• Technology is expanding at an ever more rapid pace and is redefining the economies of both Europe and Asia. The U.S. and by extension Kentucky, competes with these economies for jobs and employment security.
• A high school education is no longer sufficient to provide all the tools necessary to compete in many sectors of the 21st century economy.
• Once a student leaves school for the workforce, it is difficult, although not impossible, to return to learn new skill sets.
• Technology is leading the expansion of the U.S. and state economy. To be prepared to participate in this expansion, the workforce must possess the skills required by employers.
• To educate a traditional or non-traditional student to be a productive member of the workforce is much less expensive than to incarcerate them or provide public social service assistance to them and their families.
• Employment opportunities in Pendleton County which require technical skill sets are low in comparison to those in similar communities. Currently, there exists no post secondary training or education opportunities in the county that would will serve to enhance the community’s competitiveness regarding job creation and existing industry retention.
• According to the 2010 Census, less than a third of the population 25 years old or older has any education beyond high school.
• Less than half of the graduates from Pendleton County High School attend college or technical school. In 2005/2006, 43 % of Pendleton County graduates started a post secondary education program. In 2006/2007, the rate was 39.3% and for 2008/2009, the rate was 49.9%.

After an in depth dialogue was conducted between educators, local government officials and interested citizens, it was determined that the prospect of bringing a community and technical college to Pendleton County, associated with the Kentucky Community And Technical College System (KCTCS), was an effort worth pursuing.

From those in attendance that night, nearly one third volunteered their time to join a working planning group called the Pendleton County Community and Technical College Focus Group. The Focus Group Members are; Anthony Strong, Jeff Aulick, Judge Bertram, Amber Sergent, Dr. Brian Schack, Mark Ross, Mayor Hart, Pam Harper, Bob Fogle, Myron Doan, Tony Dietrich, Ron Moreland, Holly Trimble, Wayne Keith, JoEllen Mitchell, Angela Hornbeck, Shawn Nordheim, Michele Crowley, Mayor Spencer, Clay Sullivan and Larry Sutton.

The mission of this group would be to research options for establishing a community and technical college here locally. After meeting several times to develop a planning research process, the focus group determined that in order to be successful, this effort would need to do the following:

• Create a companion educational system which will collaborate with and support the existing county public educational system by providing advanced technological training to traditional and nontraditional students.
• Foster a partnership with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, the Pendleton County Public Library, the Pendleton County Board of Education, Adult Education and local government to create a facility and program.
• Provide a facility and program opportunities for students to not only obtain a variety of skill sets in various areas of technology but also general area of applied arts which will allow them the opportunity to either gain an associate’s degree or technical certification in their chosen field or continue with their education toward the attainment of a B.S. or B.A.
• Locate this facility in Falmouth to be convenient to the school system and residents.
• Seek funding from state and federal dollars as well as local bonding capability to fund a portion of necessary facility and programmatic expenses.
• Work closely with the One Stop Career Center for training needs and employment trends and opportunities.

If these objects could be met, it was determined that the inclusion of a Community and Technical College in Falmouth and Pendleton County would have these positive quality of life impacts on our community:

• Create an educational system which will provide a choice to students who want to learn an applied technological skill, gain an associate’s degree or technical certification and then enter the workforce well prepared for the challenges of a 21-century economy.
• Provide opportunities for traditional and nontraditional students to begin their higher education career at home before moving to the university system.
• Provide training opportunities for nontraditional students which will allow them to retool, keep their current job or find a new one.
• Create more economic development and, thus, more technology related employment opportunities for technically trained workers in Pendleton County.

On May 9, 2011, the focus group met to map out the way forward. It was decided that the group would research technical colleges operating in communities similar to Pendleton County. Everyone also agreed that a luncheon should be held with business and industry leaders in order to understand their needs for training and to gauge their interest in being part of the effort. In addition, the group planned to conduct surveys of high school students and members of the community at large in order to gather information regarding career interests and support for the local technical school concept in general.

In July, Henry Bertram, Wayne Keith, Bill and JoEllen Mitchell traveled to Eastern Kentucky in order to study community technical colleges located in Hazard and Hindman and Hyden.

On August 4, 2011, the focus group met to discuss the status of their research project. The trip to Eastern Kentucky was discussed. Originally, the idea of building a new technical college near the future Pendleton County Library was strongly considered. Now, a second option of remodeling the old Falmouth High School to serve as the technical college was gaining favor. Judge Henry Bertram told the group that the Pendleton County Fiscal Court and the Falmouth City Council had partnered to pay for a feasibility study that would evaluate the Falmouth High School’s suitability for becoming the community and technical college. Currently the study is ongoing and its completion is expected by early October. Judge Bertram said that in many cases it is more economical to remodel an existing building than to create a new structure.

On August 26, 2011, individual members of the focus group provided the Falmouth Outlook with exclusive interviews that expressed realistic and heartfelt rationales for establishing a community technical college in Pendleton County. Those interviews will be published in their entirety at a later date.

On September 7, 2011, the Focus Group hosted a lunch for business and industry leaders at the Farm Bureau Building on Main Street in Falmouth. Abilities that the business organizations sought in employees were discussed. Many of the individual leaders said that computer skills were universally prized. Others expressed a need for management and supervisory education. Leadership training creates better team players and followers they said. Still others stated a need for better reading comprehension as well as chemistry and physics classes. Health care training was also said to be in high demand. During the course of the business luncheon, company representatives provided written answers to survey questions pertaining to their needs and interests.

The focus group continues its work and future articles will discuss where this planning process proceeds from here to the end of the year.