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For Release: IMMEDIATE |
Contact: Public Affairs |
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Date: October 15, 1999 |
STATE BOARD OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES ENDORSES ACCELERATED TRAINING FOR HURRICANE FLOYD RELIEF
RALEIGH – Community colleges hold a key to the massive rebuilding required Down East. That’s the sentiment expressed by the State Board of Community Colleges in a resolution endorsed at their October meeting today.
The resolution reflects the pride the State Board feels in the outstanding short-term relief effort extended by the colleges. More importantly however, the resolution deals with the necessary long-term needs the colleges can provide, specifically skill training in trades.
"Community colleges can bridge the gap between people who need jobs and employers who need workers by offering focused, short-term continuing education programs in building trades during the next two months," says the resolution. (A copy of the resolution is attached.)
The resolution encourages community colleges to offer short-term courses, four to eight weeks in length, to provide skills critical to recovery. "We need people out there working," said State Board Chair G. Herman Porter. System President H. Martin Lancaster reported to the State Board that eight community colleges in the affected area have already responded positively to the call for the courses.
The State Board will also ask Governor James B. Hunt Jr. to provide full funding to students to cover the fees for these programs. The Board feels money for the courses should come from State or FEMA emergency funds so students are not faced with another hardship at this time.
In other action the State Board:
Approved a plan to give the 24 eastern community colleges closed for several days because of Hurricane Floyd the authority to adjust their schedules. A request will also go before the legislature to "hold harmless" any FTE loss sustained by those community colleges because of Hurricane Floyd.
Approved the appointment of Dr. Delores A. Parker as Vice President for Academic and Student Services, effective November 1, 1999. Dr. Parker is president of Parker Consulting Group in Battle Creek, Michigan. She has been employed at several North Carolina community colleges and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She replaces Dr. Elizabeth Lambert Johns, who is retiring.
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Henry Frye swore in Herbert L. Watkins of Charlotte for a new term during the State Board meeting. Before administering the oath Justice Frye said, "The community colleges are one of the best buys in the State of North Carolina."
The North Carolina Community Colleges System is the primary agency for delivery of job training, literacy and adult education in North Carolina and is rated the best in the country in work force training.
State Board of Community Colleges
Resolution
October 15, 1999
The State Board of Community Colleges recognizes and applauds the extraordinary efforts of North Carolina's community colleges in assisting with rescue and relief efforts following Hurricane Floyd. Leadership, faculty, staff and students have responded with a tremendous outpouring of money, supplies, volunteer time and professional expertise.
We now urge the community colleges to reinforce the importance of "community" in their names by taking the lead in rebuilding the economy of Eastern North Carolina through aggressive, creative efforts to provide immediate training in building trades and other skills critical to recovery.
Demand for trained construction workers is immediate and enormous. At the same time, thousands of North Carolinians are out of work because the floods have shut down so many businesses and farms.
Community colleges can bridge the gap between people who need jobs and employers who need workers by offering focused, short-term continuing education programs in building trades during the next two months.
The State Board strongly encourages community colleges, especially those in the affected areas of Eastern North Carolina, to offer such programs and to work with Employment Security Commission offices and local media to recruit students as soon as possible.
The State Board will ask Governor Hunt to provide full funding to cover the fees for these programs, so they may be offered at no cost to students and at no hardship to community colleges.
Resolved this fifteenth day of October, 1999,
by the State Board of Community Colleges.
Dr. G. Herman Porter
Chairman
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