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South Liberty County group appeals to Lee College
By MIKE GEORGE
Liberty Mayor Carl Pickett and Liberty-Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce Director Mary Anne Campbell joined Dayton Community Development Corporation Board Member Kenneth Voytek and Dayton Chamber of Commerce Director Tammy Pratka as the four attended the August meeting of the Lee College Board of Regents on Thursday, August, 21.
The regents heard a presentation by Voytek that illustrated the need in South Liberty County for academic classes to go along with the technological courses being offered by that college as well as others, through the Liberty County Workforce Academy.
“Liberty County and all other Texas counties are under an initiative from the State Board of Education to work with colleges in a pre-K though 16-grades incentive,” said Voytek. “All school districts need to be aligned with a higher education source, and in our case it’s Lee College. We are concerned about how education affects employment and the greater employment opportunities a student may have.”
Two meetings were conducted in each of the months of June and July with a third meeting falling in between with then Lee College President Dr. Martha Ellis, all leading up to Thursday’s presentation.
“What we are attempting to do, right now, is to have a greater presence of Lee College in South Liberty County,” Voytek stated. “Armed with this mandate from the higher Board of Education to develop a close working relationship between the area’s public schools and a college of higher learning, we’re trying to increase the current presence of the college in ours area.”
Unfortunately, as with almost all governmental mandates, this one is also without funding. The Liberty County group is trying to answer the state’s mandate by having to do so through a maze of creative ideas and planning.
“Local school districts will become more involved once an agreement with educational, economical and civic leaders has been developed,” stated Voytek.
With the employment opportunities in S.E. Texas, this area’s youth and adults need more exposure to local college classes.
“As we speak $12 billion of expansion is going on in the Beaumont / Port Arthur area and jobs are going unfilled,” Voytek said.
All employers want prospective job holders to be qualified with minimum skills. This is the area where a cooperative effort between the public schools and the college work together.
An idea presented to the regents during this presentation was to lower the out-of-district tuition rates by the college so that more students could attend the school of higher learning. The thought here is that even though paying less, the overall impact of having more students enrolling at the school would mean more money to Lee.
The regents heard a presentation by Voytek that illustrated the need in South Liberty County for academic classes to go along with the technological courses being offered by that college as well as others, through the Liberty County Workforce Academy.
“Liberty County and all other Texas counties are under an initiative from the State Board of Education to work with colleges in a pre-K though 16-grades incentive,” said Voytek. “All school districts need to be aligned with a higher education source, and in our case it’s Lee College. We are concerned about how education affects employment and the greater employment opportunities a student may have.”
Two meetings were conducted in each of the months of June and July with a third meeting falling in between with then Lee College President Dr. Martha Ellis, all leading up to Thursday’s presentation.
“What we are attempting to do, right now, is to have a greater presence of Lee College in South Liberty County,” Voytek stated. “Armed with this mandate from the higher Board of Education to develop a close working relationship between the area’s public schools and a college of higher learning, we’re trying to increase the current presence of the college in ours area.”
Unfortunately, as with almost all governmental mandates, this one is also without funding. The Liberty County group is trying to answer the state’s mandate by having to do so through a maze of creative ideas and planning.
“Local school districts will become more involved once an agreement with educational, economical and civic leaders has been developed,” stated Voytek.
With the employment opportunities in S.E. Texas, this area’s youth and adults need more exposure to local college classes.
“As we speak $12 billion of expansion is going on in the Beaumont / Port Arthur area and jobs are going unfilled,” Voytek said.
All employers want prospective job holders to be qualified with minimum skills. This is the area where a cooperative effort between the public schools and the college work together.
An idea presented to the regents during this presentation was to lower the out-of-district tuition rates by the college so that more students could attend the school of higher learning. The thought here is that even though paying less, the overall impact of having more students enrolling at the school would mean more money to Lee.
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