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 COS Works to Increase Presence in Corcoran Valley Voice January 1, 2009 - Visalia - College of the Sequoias, the city of Corcoran and Corcoran Unified School District are working on a plan to offer college courses at the new Job Training/Technology Learning Center in Corcoran. The 22,000-square-foot facility is currently under construction next to Corcoran High School and is expected to open in fall 2009. The city of Corcoran and the CUSD have been working together on the project, which was largely funded through a $3.2 million Economic Development Administration grant and a $1 million donation from the Corcoran Community Foundation. "We have always been looking at (the Learning Center) as a way to increase our presence in Corcoran," said Dr. Bill Scroggins, president/superintendent of COS. He said that COS is interested in providing classes in such areas as industrial maintenance and welding, and in establishing a correctional officer training academy. "That would be the first certified community college correctional officer training program in the state," Scroggins said. "COS was supportive of the (learning center) project," said Corcoran City Manager Ron Hoggard, who added that COS is interested in "bringing more educational opportunities to the city of Corcoran." He said that COS has provided occasional course offerings in the city. "They have worked with larger employers on specialized courses," he said. "But this would further the course offerings." "We're looking at partnering with COS as well as other institutions - the city, the prisons and any business that needs job training," said Rich Merlo, CUSD superintendent. "We're looking at having some courses through Chapman and COS." He said that early discussions with Chapman University College have involved developing a nursing program, while "COS would provide electives and core classes," he said. The criminal justice courses proposed by COS would give advanced training to people who work at the local prisons, according to Merlo. |
By Steve Pastis "As far as specifics, we're still assessing our needs and the local community's needs," he said. "What I like about it is we could offer classes to our current high school students and give them a taste of college early and get them engaged to make sure they get an education," said Merlo. "We'd like to see every high school senior and junior take at least one college course, but that's kind of a lofty goal. "I'd like to see a graduation requirement to have students take two college courses before they graduate Corcoran High School," he added. "We will have an emphasis on career preparation," said Merlo. "We're looking at having a very high use of technology, including laptop learning on a regular basis." He said that laptops would be used for reading, calculations and presentations by students and teachers. He also expects to offer some distance learning, enabling people to take courses and participate in videoconferencing from off campus. The high school district currently offers a few career training courses to the community. "Right now, we have an ag class, we have a teaching careers class and a couple of technology classes," said Merlo. The classes are taught at Corcoran High School during the day. The classes are made up exclusively of high school students, but adults can enroll, according to Merlo. In addition to COS' involvement at the center, a recent meeting with city and school officials covered other topics. "A common theme was transportation," Scroggins said. "How do they get to our centers in Hanford or Tulare or Visalia?" He said that COS was looking to partner with Kings Area Rural Transit to better provide transportation for students. Corcoran was included in Measure J, which provides funding for COS' Tulare campus. "The amount is set at $1 million to $1.5 million for a program in Corcoran to be determined that would help the city with one of its initiatives in line with COS," said Scroggins. "But the Measure J language doesn't limit the money for Corcoran. That is a board decision." The next two steps for COS are to translate its proposal into a memorandum of understanding and to begin work on the correctional officer training plan, according to Scroggins. |
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