Clarkston aims for skills center
Apr. 23—The Clarkston School Board unanimously approved a resolution Monday to apply for a feasibility study for a new skill center.
Now that the resolution is approved, the district can apply for the grant before the May 1 deadline. Asotin School District will also join the application for the feasibility study and will vote on a resolution at its meeting next Monday, Superintendent Thaynan Knowlton said.
The resolution is the first step in a process to build a skills center for Clarkston and Asotin. The skills center would need to start with at least two districts, but more can join, and at least three programs.
Knowlton said the process is slow and many of the details will be determined later. For example, the study would help determine what programs the skills center would have, based on the community's and the district's wants and needs.
"It is a really lengthy process," Knowlton said. "Nothing is going to happen really fast on this."
Knowlton estimated a three- to five-year minimum timeline.
If the district is approved for the grant through the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, a study would be conducted to determine if there was community support and what programs it would have. The study would take eight to nine months and would have surveys, community input and discussion from district staff.
If the project moves forward, it would be placed on a priority list and need approval from the Washington Legislature to be built. If the legislature approves the skills center, the state would pay 90% of the construction.
If a skills center is built, it would be a branch from a facility in Kennewick. Walla Walla also has a branch facility center from Kennewick that Knowlton, Clarkston High Principal Doug LaMunyan and school board member Dan Randles toured recently.
The Walla Walla campus is called Southeast Area Technical Skills Center, or SEATech Skills Center. The core campus based in Kennewick is called Tri-Tech.
Randles said the tour showed the facility and the programs, including media tech, advanced manufacturing and welding, construction, health science and criminal justice. Randles said students in the media tech course were making commercials for local businesses, construction classes were building homes for Habitat for Humanity and tiny homes and students in advanced manufacturing were getting internships and jobs with Boeing.
"They're all connected like that to some sort of business," Randles said.
The programs also use equipment that will be used on the job and students can earn credits for a degree as well as work experience for a job after high school.
"You can see why the kids want to be there," Randles said. "It's a really nice state-of-the art facility."
In order for the Clarkston School District to be approved as a branch campus, it would require at least 150 full-time students to support the facility. And to be a core campus like Kennewick, it would need 240 students.
The current numbers at Clarkston indicate it would qualify for a branch campus rather than a campus. But Knowlton said there wasn't a downside to becoming a branch campus as opposed to a core campus.
Knowlton was told the skills center for Asotin County has been on the radar for a long time.
Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.
