Barton Community College’s Case New Holland (CNH) Top Tech training program has been approved, Executive Director of Workforce Training and Economic Development Mary Foley announced Tuesday. That means people will no longer have to be CNH employees to enroll in this type of training at BCC.
The Barton County Commissioners joined BCC’s Board of Trustees on campus Tuesday for lunch and a tour of several departments where Continuing Technical Education (CTE) courses are taught.
“Our name isn’t Barton Tech Institute but we have a long line of technical programs,” Vice President of Instruction Elaine Simmons said. Those programs were highlighted Tuesday in a tour that included the site of a $3.7 million Agriculture Complex being built on the east side of the campus. It will eventually house several programs, including the CNH Top Tech program.
Foley said the college will continue to offer a program that is only open to CNH employees. Those students are sent here by CNH dealerships throughout the nation. “We’ve even had students from Australia,” she said.
The Top Tech program will be separate from that, said Mike Johnson, chairman of the board of trustees.
“This is something we’ve looked forward to for many years,” Johnson said, noting community members have often asked if they could enroll in the closed classes.
Tuesday's meeting was a chance for college officials to share information with the commissioners about Barton’s role in the community. Trustee Gary Burke commented that some things the college does don’t make money. He cited the nursing and Early Childhood Education programs, and also noted the college maintains a swimming pool that is used by the Great Bend High School swim team. “They are a great benefit to Barton County,” he said.
Barton President Dr. Carl Heilman added that other programs, such as those at Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, do make money. They don’t use local tax dollars but can help keep the mill levy down. In addition to that, he reminded commissioners of a recent cost-benefit analysis done by the Docking Institute. “For every dollar we receive from the county (taxpayers), we return $2 back,” he said.
In highlighting CTE programs, Heilman noted that Kansas has 19 community colleges and seven technical institutes. For five of the seven institutes (excluding Wichita Technical Institute and Washburn Technical Institute) their combined enrollment does not exceed Barton’s FTE (full-time equivalency enrollment), Heilman said.
The program also included information about the Promise Act and Early College Experience/Excel in CTE. The latter allows Kansas high school students to take specific career technical courses tuition-free. Courses on the Excel in CTE list are available to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors at no cost except textbook and materials fees (if applicable). The Kansas Promise Scholarship Act provides service scholarships for students to attend Kansas community colleges and Kansas technical colleges in specific fields of study.
The campus tour included programs in Commercial Driver’s License, carpentry, plumbing, welding, Early Childhood Education, EMT/paramedic, nursing, scales technician, computer lab, adult health care and criminal justice. The trailer for Barton’s natural gas program was also part of the tour.
Study session: Contracts and the Food Pantry
Later that afternoon, the trustees held their May study session. Patrick Busch, the Central Kansas Upward Bound project director, gave an update on the campus Food Pantry and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund. Two students who use the food pantry, Catarina Contes Tribst and Kelsie Murrell-Ross, addressed the trustees.
“It’s like our grocery store,” Murrell-Ross said, thanking the trustees for the food pantry. Both students noted that they don’t always have a way to get to a store from campus and that students are sometimes strapped for cash.
The “Cougar Supply Den” also supplies personal items such as shampoo and toothpaste.
Busch said they hope this summer to add more non-food items such as donated bedding and clothes.
The board also reviewed the list of head coaches, management staff and administrators whose contracts are up for renewal and new contracts the board will be asked to approve at the next business meeting.
New coach contracts include Sabrina Boyd, dance; Megan Besecker, volleyball; and Nathan Brockelman, wrestling. There is an open position for the eSports head coach.
There are no non-renwals.
New management staff contracts are proposed for Krystall Barnes, director of grant; and Heather Panning, assistant athletic director and senior women’s administrator. There are open positions for an executive director of business, technology and workforce development, and for an executive director of health, humanities and science.
For administrative staff, Renee Demel will be considered for a contract as chief information office. There are no open positions.
