MCC resolution: No to consolidation ♥

Published in the Courier-Tribune on September 24, 2011

by Hugh Martin

TROY — Although some legislators have called it a “dead issue,” the Montgomery Community College Board of Trustees passed a resolution opposing a North Carolina community college consolidation.

A North Carolina legislative study released in June recommended that community colleges could save about $5 million a year by combining administrations at the smallest colleges with larger, neighboring campuses.

In the resolution, trustees state that the recommendation targets rural community colleges and that consolidation would make access more difficult for students. The resolution states, in part, “rural community colleges are the educational institutions most needed in our great state and have been largely supported by the local citizenry, business and industry and government in the construction of campus buildings, upkeep of facilities, philanthropy for scholarships and program development.”

MCC President Dr. Mary Kirk told the board that a meeting of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, co-chaired by Senator Jerry Tillman of Randolph and Montgomery counties, is scheduled for Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. in Raleigh. Kirk plans to attend the meeting.

Earle Connelly, chair of the Personnel Committee, introduced eight new staff members to the board: Gerald Clark, Electrical Electronics Technology instructor; Ed Hinson, HVAC instructor; Clare Cagle, Compensatory Education instructor; Mark Dye, Gunsmithing instructor; Andrew Ryan Flynn, Gunsmithing instructor; Andy Speer, Taxidermy instructor; Donald Clark, Criminal Justice instructor/BLET director; and Amanda Beaman, Medical Assisting instructor.

In other business the board approved:

• A list of capital improvement projects that could be undertaken if a one-quarter cent sales tax is enacted.

• Renovations for the Biology Lab and IT Department.

• Recommendations for the employment of Ernest Everington as system technician and Tim Kennedy as director of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness.

• Travel requests for Dr. Kirk to meet with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in Alabama and to attend the SACS Winter Conference in Florida.

• The 2011-2012 Student Handbook.

• In-kind transfers of rifles and shotguns, valued at $656, to the Gunsmithing Program from Jim’s Gun Jobbery in Fayetteville.