WEATHERFORD COLLEGE TECH PREP CONSORTIUM
STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
9:00 a.m., Friday, May 7, 2004
Weatherford College Board Room
Minutes
Attendance
Members Present: Kevin Eaton, Linda Hutton, David Russell, Moneisa Downs,
Gayle Manskey, Kathy Barakis, Debra Myers, Mary Landers,
Becky McDonald (proxy for Marianne McMinn), Ron Clark,
LeRoy Tillery, Cheryl Floyd, Alan Edwards, Kay Landrum,
Shirley Chenault, Sally Burt, and John Allison.
Members Absent: Terry Brock, Jan Crouch, Ken Davis, Martha Crawford,
Kenneth Garrett, Matt Adams, Scott Landrum, Sandy
Hamilton, Sandra Hartnitt, Dennis McNaughton, Paul Stone,
Bob Jehli, Larry Drennan, Kent Hudson, Michelle Stone,
Glenda Goodwin, Carolyn Weston, Dalwell Criswell, Debbie
Roark, Jon Roark, Candy Slocum, Geneva Day, Andrea
Sutton, Melanie Cormack, Alice Birkhimer, Sharon Mills,
Avalon White, Mary Landers, Arleen Atkins, Carol Eppright,
Vicki Smith.
I. Call to Order
John Allison, Vice-Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.
II. Welcome Newcomers and Guest
John Allison welcomed members for attending and then asked all
members to introduce themselves.
III. Business Meeting
A. Approval of Minutes - February 27, 2004
John asked members to review the minutes from the February
steering committee meeting. A motion was made by Shirley
Chenault to approve the minutes and there was a second by LeRoy
Tillery. John confirmed that the motion carried and the minutes are
approved as they appear.
B. Chairman’s Report
Jennifer Patton Memorial Golf Tournament- John Allison spoke
about the scholarship golf tournament for the Health Science
department at Weatherford High School.
C. Director’s Report
1. Scholarship Awards- Kevin Eaton stated that 13 scholarships
were awarded to service area high school seniors this quarter. This
scholarship will be for the 2004-2005 school year at Weatherford
College. Scholarships ranged from $200-$1000. The 13
scholarship recipients represented 6 partner ISD’s with
Weatherford High School having the largest number of recipients
with 4. Omni American Credit funded our $1,000 scholarship and
the recipient of this Scholarship was Jessica Nelson of Graford
High School. We would like to thank all of our Scholarship Golf
Tournament Supporters for making these scholarships possible.
2. Budget- Linda Hutton spoke on our current budget status and
a budget amendment to place funds in the appropriate accounts for
the remainder of the year. A spreadsheet was handed out to show
how the funds are being moved.
3. Summer Teacher Externship Update- David Russell stated
that 19 area educators have been selected to participate in Teacher
Extern program from June 14-29, 2004. Teachers will be placed
with businesses during the week of June 14-18. They will
participate as fully as possible according to business parameters
and then take their experiences and write integrated curriculum for
their classroom. The integrated curricula will be posted on the
Weatherford College Tech Prep Consortium website as a resource
for other educators. New business participants to the program
include Bell Helicopter, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Parker County
Juvenal Probation, the City of Fort Worth’s Environmental
Management Department, Weatherford National Bank, and Cross
Timbers Family Services of Stephenville. Other partners include
Lockheed-Martin, Cook Children’s Medical Center, Campbell
Health System, JAMAK, and others.
4. Online Dual Credit Technical Courses- Kevin Eaton stated
that Dr. Shirley Chenault, Vicky Smith, Wilma Edmiston and
himself have been working on a grant that will fund the
development of Technical Dual Credit Online Courses for area
high school students to access starting Fall 2004. These
courses will allow ISD’s to participate in Tech Prep Programs
that would otherwise be impossible due to staffing issues and
budgetary constraints that these schools must operate under.
Students would receive tuition free college credit upon
completion of these courses. The ISD’s would be able to count
these students as enrolled in their Technical Classes and
receive the 35% additional weighted funding for each of the
participants. Therefore, the financial benefit to the participating
ISD’s could be substantial. The program will start with a pilot
group of three partner ISD’s. In the second year we hope to
add the remaining 26 partner ISD’s. Weatherford College will
be offering courses in Accounting, Criminal Justice, and Child
Development. We will start out with three courses for each
semester of the 2004-2005 school year. Starting in year two
more courses will be developed to meet the needs of our area
ISD’s.
5. School Presentations- Kevin Eaton and Dr. Russell have been
visiting schools this quarter and presenting information to
seniors on Tech Prep and how to receive their technical credit.
They have already visited Huckabay and Dublin, and are
scheduled to visit Lipan of the 17th of May. They will also
address 8-11th graders in Lipan and educate them on the
benefits of tech prep.
6. State Tech Prep Conference- Kevin Eaton, Linda Hutton,
Terry Brock, and David Russell participated in the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board’s Seamless Transitions
Conference in Dallas March 8-10. The conference focused the
need to provide seamless transitions for technical students from
high school to the community college and ultimately to the
university. Kevin and David made 2 presentations entitled
“Collaboration for Education” to approximately 40 attendees.
Also, WC president, Dr. Huff, joined seven other community
college presidents and the University of Texas at Arlington
president in signing agreements that would allow technical
students to transfer their credits to UTA to earn an academic
bachelor’s degree through the Texas TWO-TWO Project.
7. Abilene Presentation for Colleges- Dr. Russell and Kevin
Eaton presented information to College and University
representatives about Tech Prep and the Texas Two-Step in
Abilene. They explained the benefits of our online registration
system and why it was important to post-secondary institutions
as well as secondary institutions. Attendees showed great
interest in the information and many questions were fielded on
where they needed to go from here. The Abilene Tech Prep
Consortium is now in the process of implementing an online
registration system.
8. Tech Prep Magazine- Kevin Eaton stated that the Tech Prep
staff will be updating the Tech Prep Magazine for the Fall 2004
school year. With the purchase of a new 5 mega-pixel camera,
we will be able to take professional quality photographs to use
in the publication. We hope to have the final produced and
completed by the middle of July. These magazines will be
distributed to partner ISD’s in August.
9. Subgrant Payments- Linda Hutton gave an update on the
progress of the sub-grants that had been given. 17 ISD’s were
given sub-grants this year. 13 schools have been given
reimbursements and two are in process. Two schools have not
returned anything for reimbursement.
10. Teacher Alignment Training Online- Kevin stated that
teacher alignment information will be available online for the
2004-2005 school year. Teachers will access the WCTPC
website in order to download copies of the college course
syllabus that each of their High School courses will articulate
too. These instructors will then sign a copy of the syllabi and
mail it to the Tech Prep Department at WC. They will also be
asked to request a meeting with the college instructor if they feel
that more clarification is required. This will streamline the
alignment process and give us a system of tracking which
instructors have aligned their courses and which ones have not.
IV. Unfinished Business
A. John Allison stated there is none at this time.
V. New Business
A. 2004-2005 Proposed Budget Review- John Allison asked that
members review the Proposed budget spreadsheet handed out. John
then asked if there were any questions about the proposed budget. A
motion to approve the budget as it appears was made by Kathy
Barakis and a second was made by Sally Burt. The motion carried and
the budget was approved.
B. 2004-2005 Proposed Goals Review-John Allison then asked all
member to review the Proposed Goals for next year. A motion to
approve was made by Mary Landers, and a second was made by Kay
Landrum. The motion carried and the goals were approved.
VI. Items for Discussion
John Allison stated that no items for discussion were submitted for this
meeting. He then asked if anyone had anything that they would like to
discuss.
VII. Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Friday, August 27, 2004, from 9:00-11:00
a.m., Weatherford College Board Room.
VIII. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m. by John Allison.