PORT ANGELES — Options ranging from closure of the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center to operating as a satellite campus of the Bremerton skills center will be presented during a Port Angeles School Board meeting tonight.
Superintendent Marc Jackson, Business and Operations Director David Knechtel, Career and Technical Education Director Cindy Crumb, school board Vice President Sarah Methner and board member Sandy Long met with state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction officials Monday to answer questions about the dissolution of NOPSC.
The board will hear a report on the meeting during tonight’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. at the Central Services Building, 216 E. Fourth St.
Jackson announced in May that there was a “strong possibility” the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center would dissolve following the school year, a decision he said OSPI would likely make due to the declining enrollment of the center. Four of the five school districts involved in the skills center have said they want out of the inter-district agreement.
Jackson said his impression from Monday’s meeting is that if PASD asks the state to end the skills center’s inter-district agreement and dissolve it, “OSPI would not stand in the way.”
He said staff members are exploring the possibility of the skills center becoming a satellite campus of Bremerton’s West Sound Technical Skills Center, but that many barriers to that remain.
“We are really honing in on a feasibility study on a satellite program,” he said. “It’s not a done deal. It’s all part of the discussion.”
Methner, who attended the meeting with OSPI, said that it wouldn’t be an easy task for the skills center to become a satellite campus.
“It was talked about, but it was made pretty clear to us that that was a [West Sound Technical Skills Center] decision,” she said. “It’s not that we can tell them to run a program; it’s something that’s in their corner.”
Long said the meeting made clear what all the options are for the skills center and that she’s not too interested in the satellite campus option.
“I don’t see that as one of the top options for me anyway,” she said.
Jackson said he is getting “closer and closer” to asking the board to consider taking action dissolution of NOPSC, but for now it is still in the discussion phase.
“I don’t want to rush them,” he said. “I want the board to be given the opportunity to thoroughly see the options that we have.
“I want them to make the best decision in the interest of Port Angeles School District.”
Officials learned that if the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center is dissolved the building will go to the district.
If the building closes it will officially be called the Lincoln Center and be a part of the campus, Jackson said.
He has previously said there are ongoing discussions about how the building could be used for workforce training if the skills center is closed.
Peninsula College owns 13 percent of the building, Jackson said.
Long called Monday’s meeting positive and informative and said state staff were willing to answer all the questions the board had, including questions they had from the public.
She plans to give a report on what was learned during the meeting today.
Methner said that what she did feel well about was how many career and technical education (CTE) classes Port Angeles High School offers compared to other larger schools in the state.
“In Port Angeles we value that and managed to maintain CTE programs,” she said. “With the potential closing, we’re looking to move [programs] into our high school. I felt good about that part of it.”
Jackson said including the classes that are moving to PAHS, the school will offer approximately 60 CTE classes. Last year PAHS offered 54.
She said that because of the number of CTE classes offered, OSPI officials did not seem concerned that PAHS students wouldn’t get the level of education they need or want due to the closure of the skills center.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
