NIC to address enrollment traffic jam
<p>SHAWN GUST/Press Dale Crooks, right, prepares new break parts while JOsh Harmon cleans the rotors on the axel of a van Tuesday during their automotive class at North Idaho College. NIC is considering expansion plans that could help reduce waiting lists for some courses.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Trustees and administrators at North Idaho College are exploring ways they can expand some of their crowded professional-technical programs, without waiting until the college can afford to develop a building on the Rathdrum Prairie.
During a recent special board meeting, college trustees decided to pursue a Memorandum of Understanding with the governing board of KTEC (Kootenai Technical Education Campus) high school. The trustees' intent with the MOU is to help define the community college's relationship with the high school, and detail ways NIC and KTEC can share resources and develop programs.
The board also considered a recommendation made by the administration, that they consider building on 11 acres at the college's Workforce Training Center in the Riverbend Commerce Park in Post Falls.
A motion to hire a Lewiston architect to design a "generic" building that could be placed on the Prairie property or built at Riverbend was taken off the table when it failed to receive a second motion.
"Long-term, we already decided as a board that KTEC would be where we would develop our programs," said trustee Christie Wood. "I'd like to see them in one central area. For our PTE programs, I'd like us to focus on our original mission."
In 2009, the college completed the purchase of 40 acres on the Rathdrum Prairie for $1.1 million. The transaction came after several years of research for a place for NIC to develop its PTE programs.
NIC's Vice President of Instruction, Jay Lee, advised trustees there are four PTE programs with the "most pressing needs:" automotive technology, welding technology, diesel technology and machining technology.
Each of those programs lacks space and consistently has a waiting list.
Automotive technology is the program with the most urgent need.
Mike Mires, the college's dean of professional-technical education, said the need for more space for these programs has likely existed for 30 years.
The average wait for someone to get into the automotive program is two years.
"If you talk to the high schools, they can hardly recommend to a student to take an automotive program when there is a two-year wait to get into it," Mires said.
Since he was hired early in 2010, Mires said his greatest goal has been to increase the capacity of these programs.
"As KTEC comes on line, there will be more students wanting these programs," Mires said.
KTEC high school, a joint project of the Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland school districts, is now under construction at the southwest corner of Meyer and Lancaster roads in Rathdrum. Slated to open next fall, the high school campus is adjacent to the 40 acres NIC purchased.
In addition to the MOU, NIC's trustees will also request that KTEC high school's governing board consider placing an NIC representative on the high school's board, in a seat with voting privileges. The college is now represented by a non-voting member.
The boards of both institutions have scheduled a joint board meeting set to take place Dec. 20 at 5 p.m. in the Driftwood Bay Room in the Edminster Student Union Building on the NIC campus.
"We are extremely interested in continuing and expanding our relationship with NIC. We are very open to finding opportunities to have NIC utilize the KTEC facility. We intend to explore all possibilities during the joint meeting."