As the fiscal year at Seward County Community College draws to a close, trustees held their regular meeting Monday and handled a long agenda that included careful scrutiny of bids for new equipment and projects. Along with regular business, the board approved payment of final bills and encumbered funds for FY 2016.

Approved purchases included blast pots and related equipment for the corrosion program, for the low-bid price of $10,729 from SOT Abrasives and Equipment of Tulsa; construction of a third permanent greenhouse for sustainable agriculture,  for the low-bid price of $193,473.16, from Knudsen Enterprises of Liberal, of which $103,633 is for materials purchased from a greenhouse supply company; an ultra-low temperature freezer for the microbiology student laboratory, for $13,374.95, from Fisher Scientific of Houston; and two 2011 Freightliner Cascadia trucks from National Carriers of Liberal, for the price of $79,000 total.

Industry partnerships enabled the corrosion and truck-driving programs to negotiate value pricing on the blast pots and trucks, saving the college nearly half the price on both purchases. Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Todd Carter, worked with Dean of Industrial Technology Larry McLemore and truck driving instructor Michael McCarthy to purchase the trucks.

“We’ve got a good working relationship with National Carriers, which wants to be able to send students through our program,” Carter told the board. “These kinds of partnerships benefit both parties.”

While the truck purchases were made with the college’s own capital outlay fund, the corrosion, biology and agriculture purchases received grant funding.

Trustee Dustin Ormiston noted, during discussion of the greenhouse and biology cooler bid approvals, that he would like to see more completed bids for large purchases, rather than receiving items with only one vendor listed.

In other business, the board heard comments from women’s basketball coach Toby Wynn, who shared concerns about what he described as pay scale discrepencies. 

“I just felt like, after 12 years here, I needed to speak up about some of my questions,” Wynn said. “I’d like to see something done, like a salary matrix. The faculty have Professional Employees Association to negotiate for them, but over in the athletic division, we don’t have a voice to represent us, and that can lead to low morale. I appreciate you taking time to hear me.”

The board also heard updates from Vice President of Student Services Celeste Donovan, who heads the professional development team, and from Dennis Mulanax, who leads the safety and security team. Along with trustee Rick Brenneman, Donovan and Mulanax recently attended a national conference on campus safety, in Portland.

“Coming from 24 years of police experience, I found it excellent to talk to the people who were there,” Mulanax said. “These are people with qualified opinions, some of whom have survived a campus incident at Virginia Tech and Umquaa Community College. Our goal is to be ready and trained if, God forbid, something like that should ever happen.”

As part of SCCC’s effort to establish contingency plans, Mulanax said, the security offices will move to the main building, where officers can have more everyday, casual contact with students. The move will take place during the summer months. A new ID card system is being programmed for use beginning in August, and it can ultimately allow the college to use a keyless entry access system, connected to individual identification, across campus.   

President Trzaska said the new measures for the upcoming school year are in line with the overall philosophy of safety through prevention and attention.

 “It’s better and smarter to invest in caution than to try to regain lost students, team members and credibility after an event we all hope will never happen,” he said. “Attending the summit was great, and we can build on what was learned: it also calls on all of us to do a better job of paying attention to things on campus.”

Insurance agent Al Shank brought the board an updated list of policy renewals as part of the ongoing effort to align all insurance policies with the college’s fiscal year. There, too, safety concerns surfaced as a priority.

“All in all, we’re still in a good range with premiums,” Shank said.

Over the past year, Shank has researched options for casualty coverage, which the college will need when Kansas law regarding concealed carry of weapons changes in July 2017. Many insurance carriers refuse to cover anything to do with guns on campus, Shank said, but others are in the process of creating “School Violent Act” policy standards to provide indemnification for crisis management services, intervention, media, public relations, communication, security, travel for family members, and mitigation.

“It’s a policy that is still evolving, and it has to do with what, unfortunately, we’ve seen across the country,” Shank said. “I have no idea what that will cost, which doesn’t mean it’s going to be high, just that it’s unknown. But at least we have some options.”

The board voted unanimously to accept the policy renewals as presented.

Trustees accepted the personnel report, which listed new employees Loretta Heft, KSBDC Business Consultant based in Dodge City; Manual Hernandez, truck driving instructor; Tyrone Hughbanks, biology instructor; and James Lickteig, drafting and engineering instructor. Open positions remain for adjunct instructors in humanities, marketing/management, adult basic education, diesel instruction, nursing instruction directors for human resources, and the office of research and assessment. Dean of Science, Math, and HPERD Luke Dowell presented a science program review, which he described as a team effort from his entire department. Of the students who enroll in science classes at SCCC, 89 percent complete their coursework, which is higher than state and national averages, Dowell said.

Following a review by the program feasibility committee, the Health Information Technology program  will be discontinued, VP Carter reported.

“When Dr. Suzanne Campbell and I did the research, we found there’s not a high need for registered HIT employees,” he said. “Employers want medical coders, not HIT individuals, and coding is just three or four classes, not a whole program.” Through an agreement with Neosho Community College, Carter said, the three students currently enrolled in the HIT program will be able to complete their degrees.

The board voted unanimously to discontinue the HIT program.

The board also voted to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kansas Workforce Development Center, and received information about a Performance Agreement with the Kansas Board of Regents. Both items ensure continued financial support from state and federal sources.

As part of its reorganization project, administration presented several recommended several title changes. These included renaming of the Academic Achievement Center to Student Success Center, changing the administrative assistant to the president and board to “Executive Assistant” to the same, and division chair of Allied Health to Dean of Allied Health.

Renaming division chairs as deans, Trzaska said, “creates a more visionary sense of leadership in those areas.”

The board approved the changes unanimously.

Vice Presidents gave brief reports to the board:

Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Todd Carter, noted that the pass rate for GED testing at the Colvin Adult Learning Center surpasses the national average, with 87 percent of students mastering the test and earning their high school equivalency diploma. Average age of GED students is between 20 and 34 years old.

Vice President of Student Services Celeste Donovan said 85 housing contracts are complete, and 143 in progress for the the dorms, with many student athletes yet to submit paperwork. She attended an alcohol awareness task force in Wichita and has plans for increased alcohol abuse prevention events and programs in the upcoming year. Funds are available thanks to new grant money accessed with help from the Liberal Area Coalition for Families.

Vice President of Finance and Operations Dennis Sander presented a list of maintenance projects underway on campus, as well as a brief overview of the college’s funding sources.

President Trzaska presented trustee Marvin Chance with a plaque and certificate of appreciation for 25 years of service on the SCCC board. He reviewed meetings with community college presidents group and KBOR, and shared copies of the NISOD “Diversity” magazine with the board. SCCC is one of 10 institutions listed as “A Most Promising Place to Work for 2016” in the magazine.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be July 18. Meetings take place on the first Monday of each month, and the board voted to move the September meeting, which falls on Labor Day, to Sept. 8, a Thursday.