HOLLAND- Throughout its existence, the Western Outreach Center just south of the Highway 14/Highway 20 intersection has been touted as a model of cooperation between rural school districts and a next level tool for students preparing themselves to enter college and the workforce.
The facility, which is operated by Hawkeye Community College and offers classes to students attending Aplington-Parkersburg, Dike-New Hartford, Gladbrook-Reinbeck and Grundy Center, is a source of pride for all of the districts involved, and during a joint meeting between the A-P and Grundy Center boards last Wednesday night, new Hawkeye President Todd Holcomb spoke about his vision for the future of the WOC.
“We’re trying to put the community back in community college,” Holcomb said. “This area is ripe and ready for expansion.”
Jane Bradley, the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Hawkeye, also attended the meeting and discussed her educational background. As Holcomb explained, a general drop off in birthrates has caused a decline in enrollment at colleges around the state.
In his view, although awareness and support for job-training—particularly, trade school programs—has grown in recent years, there are still more steps that high schools and community colleges can take to prepare students for careers in the Cedar Valley.
“We need to retain our talent here in the Cedar Valley area. What better place (is there) to live than Iowa?” he asked. “There’s a disconnect between what industry needs and what education is providing, and I think getting together with business to see what the needs are is the way you solve that.”
GC board meeting
After the joint meeting, the Grundy Center board held its regular monthly meeting at the WOC and moved through a relatively light agenda quickly.
In a move that follows other schools from around the conference, the board voted 4-0 (John Gordon was absent) to accept Oelwein’s application to join the NICL, and a likely scenario is that it will be broken into three pods based on location. Grundy Center would likely end up in a six-team pod that includes all of the current members of the NICL West, along with AGWSR, BCLUW, East Marshall, Gladbrook-Reinbeck and South Hardin.
The board approved a pair of motions related to the WOC: one 28E agreement with Hawkeye for the use of the facility and another establishing a Certified Nursing Aid (CNA) class there through Hawkeye.
“I think it’s a cool option for kids to be able to do that in high school,” board member Mandy Yoder said.
A budget hearing and a hearing on the proposal to gift the upper elementary building to the city have both been set for March 25.
