By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

After just a few minutes of discussion, a divided Salina School Board voted 4-3 Tuesday to pursue turning the Salina Area Technical School into a stand-alone college.

Over the past several months, board members have studied several options for the technical school, including merger proposals from Hutchinson Community College, Cloud County Community College, and a joint proposal from Kansas State University at Salina and North Central Kansas Technical College in Beloit — as well as turning the school into a degree-granting technical college.

It was that final option that Superintendent Rob Winter recommended at the opening of Tuesday night’s discussion, which took place before a packed room.

Click here to view complete video coverage of Tuesday's discussion of the Salina Area Technical School.

“This is far from the easy way out,” Winter said. He was referring to the fact that the technical school will have to secure accreditation from the national Higher Learning Commission — an option the board had at one point been on the verge of dismissing because of the amount of time and resources required.

“But it’s far from uncharted territory,” he said.

We’ll have local control

By going its own way, instead of merging with another institution, Winter said, the school can best maintain its own identity and local control and be free of  “boards of trustees or directors outside of Saline County."

In all, four board members said they, too, supported the stand-alone option: board president Carol Brandert, along with Gary Denning, Mary Anne Trickle and Phil Black.

Pat Grimwood and Larry Michel supported the K-State plan, and Mike Wilson supported a merger with Hutchinson Community College.

Denning noted that turning the technical school into a college seemed to mirror what’s happened in other parts of the state in recent years, where technical schools near state universities — such as in Wichita, Emporia and Topeka — chose to become colleges, while those in other parts of the state were merging with community colleges.

“As challenging as it will be, and the elbow grease it will take ... I think it’s the best option,” Trickle said.

Not her first choice Brandert said the stand-alone option was not her first choice and that the merger options “offered exciting promise.” However, K-State’s decision to enforce its authority to effectively prohibit community colleges from teaching classes in Saline County left the board with little choice.

She said she agreed with the comment she heard during a meeting with technical school students last week, that the law allowing K-State that authority is “a stupid law,” and that she was “saddened and frustrated” by the situation.

She also was critical of the fact that some information, such as K-State at Salina dean Dennis Kuhlman and K-State president Jon Wefald saying last week that a merger with a community college could lead to the eventual closing of K-State at Salina, had been taken to the public before it was told to the school board.

‘Heavy-handed, arrogant’ Even Grimwood, who supported K-State’s proposal, acknowledged there was a strong feeling that the university had been “heavy-handed and arrogant.”

Still, she said, she thought seeking independent accreditation was “not a bad decision, but not the best decision.”

State law requires the school district to have a plan for becoming an independent college by July and that it be implemented by July 2009.

Technical school faculty told the board weeks ago they thought that was an achievable goal. Some lawmakers have indicated the law could be changed if Salina needs more time.

As part of the recommendation adopted by the board, Winter proposed hiring someone to work specifically on the accreditation process.

In recent weeks, several organizations have weighed in on the options; the students and faculty of the technical school overwhelmingly supported a merger with Hutchinson Community College, with creating stand-alone college as their second choice. The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce and Salina Airport Authority both backed K-State’s plan.

“We need to thank the entire USD 305 board for letting the business community have input on this decision,” chamber president and CEO Dennis Lauver said after the meeting.

He said he thought the board’s decision was “bold, and has a tremendous upside in its potential to meet the needs of employers. It’s time for the entire community to roll up its sleeves and work to make this happen.”

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.