NIACC considering different location for Charles City Career Center

By Mary Pieper, Special to the Press

The Charles City Board of Education signed an educational service agreement Monday with North Iowa Area Community College for a new high school career center in Charles City that has been in the planning stages since late 2020.

However, that center may be in a different location in town than originally planned. The move could result in a construction cost savings of $1 million to $1.5 million, according to NIACC President Steve Schulz.

At Monday’s regular Charles City school board meeting, Schulz confirmed rumors that NIACC officials are considering a pre-existing building for the career center instead of building it on donated land east of the Floyd County Fairgrounds.

However, “it would be premature for me to talk about where that location is,” Schulz said.

The goal of the career center is to provide area high school students with instruction in specific high-demand career areas. The students will receive high school and college credit for the classes simultaneously at no cost to their families through concurrent enrollment.

The cost of building a facility from scratch is “creeping up,” according to Schulz. He said the current estimated price tag for construction of the career center near the fairgrounds is $4.4 million to $4.7 million.

NIACC is also concerned about being able to get the sheet metal needed for the exterior of the facility in time to complete the 18,000 square foot structure by the August 2023 target date, according to Schulz.

Using a pre-existing building would eliminate the need for additional sheet metal, he said.

NIACC officials expect to make a decision on the location soon, according to Schulz.

The Charles City School District is the last of the seven districts in the career center consortium to sign the educational service agreement with NIACC. The other districts are Riceville, Osage, Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock, Nashua-Plainfield, North Butler and Clarksville.

NIACC has received a $1 million state grant for the Charles City career center. The community college has raised nearly $2 million in private funds for the project so far, according to Schulz.

NIACC will close its current Charles City center on Brantingham Avenue and sell it for an estimated price of $500,000. Schulz said those funds will also be applied to the cost of the career center.

The rest of the funds will come from a bond referendum that voters in the NIACC district approved in March 2020. About $5 million to $6.5 million of those funds were earmarked for area career centers, including one in Charles City.

Schulz said the career academies within each center are being selected based on the number of job openings in the corresponding area of the state. Iowa Workforce Development is providing these figures.

When it opens, the Charles City center will have four academies: health care, construction, advanced manufacturing and information technology.

Schulz said five or 10 years down the road, those academies could be different, depending on employment needs in the area, student interest and other factors.

Each school district in the consortium will be allowed to send a certain number of students to the career center based on that district’s enrollment. As the largest district in the consortium, Charles City can have 32 students attend each year at a cost of $3,300. That rate will increase at the same rate of on-campus NIACC tuition.

School districts are also being asked to contribute funds to maintain and update the equipment at the career center. Charles City’s share will be $8,750 per year.

When hiring career center instructors, NIACC will give first consideration to appropriately certified high school teachers from the districts in the consortium, according to Schulz. He said these instructors don’t teach their subject area for seven periods a day, so they can spend the remainder of the school day at the career center.

If all the positions can’t be filled by high school teachers, NIACC will use its own instructors for the rest, according to Schulz.

Each school district in the consortium is asked to make a 10-year commitment to send students to the career center. However, the contracts will be revisited annually, according to Schulz.

“This is kind of new territory for all of us,” he said.

In other business, the Charles City school board:

• Approved changes to its policy with EMC Insurance. The overall total premium increase is 41%. The regular policy now costs $413,475, while the cyber policy costs $7,068.
• Welcomed Anne Lundquist, who was attending her first meeting as the district’s interim superintendent.
• Appointed Jennifer Schilling as director of academic services at a salary of $100,226 for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
• Appointed Delores Gaston as associate director of operations at a salary of $52,500 for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
• Accepted the resignation of elementary music teacher Alexis Whealy.
• Approved the district’s special education service delivery plan for 2022-23.
• Set a public hearing on the proposed 2022-23 Pre-School calendar for the beginning of the next regular school board meeting to be held at Monday, July 25, at 6:15 p.m. in the CCHS Library.

A work session is scheduled for Wednesday, July 20, at 5 p.m. in the high school library to discuss board goals and the strategic plan for the district.