After about 15 months of planning, the first joint class featuring students from Allen County Community College and Fort Scott Community College will commence when fall classes begin Tuesday.
Jon Marshall, ACCC’s vice president for academic affairs, told college trustees at their monthly meeting Thursday that seven students from the two schools combined are enrolled in a calculus and analytical geometry 3 course.
The course will be taught on the ACCC campus in Iola and broadcast through an interactive television system to students in Fort Scott.
Through a collaborative agreement between the two schools, instruction will trade off from year to year, Marshall explained.
Karen McKarnin will teach the course this year, then a Fort Scott instructor will take the reins in fall of 2011. At that point, the class will be broadcast to ACCC students. Marshall noted the course is only taught during fall semester.
AS ANNOUNCED in Thursday’s Register, trustees accepted the resignation of Mike Hayes as the college’s head men’s basketball coach. Hayes will remain with ACCC as an instructor and golf coach.
Anwar Perry, assistant basketball coach for the past three years at Allen County, has been named interim head coach for the upcoming season.
A husband-and-wife team will head up the college’s music department for 2010-11. Michelle Summers was hired as a vocal music instructor and director of vocal music, while her husband, Bryan, was hired as a part-time director of instrumental music.
Trustees also approved the hiring of Fred Heismeyer as a psychology instructor; Sacha Santimano as director of Winter Hall and assistant women’s basketball coach; Christy Cutshaw as a developmental specialist; Heather Johnson as part-time assistant cheer and dance coach; and Lynn Heskett as an administrative receptionist.
The resignation of Joyce Jennings as director of Allied Health also was accepted.
Marshall said he is pursuing a plan to work with the Bowlus Fine Arts Center with the hopes that ACCC might assist with the Bowlus Speakers Series starting in 2011-12.
Marshall noted the college already uses the Bowlus for its fall musical as well as fall and spring band concerts each year.
TRUSTEES said they hope to find a home for a pair of mannequins used by the college’s defunct paramedic training program.
The SIMS Manikins — one an adult, the other the size of an infant — were used for training in diagnosing various medical conditions.
The devices cost about $100,000, College President John Masterson said, and because they were purchased with state grant funds they cannot be sold.
Instead, the college hopes to give them away, perhaps to an area nursing program or Allen County Hospital.
The mannequins are a few years old and thus are considered outdated, Masterson noted, but surely still have some value for students.
He will report back to trustees at their September meeting.
A DEADLINE for neighboring landowners to remove huge mounds of dirt from south of a pond near the Iola campus is nearing, and trustees are curious if anything will be done.
The dirt came from the bottom of the pond, part of a purported beautification project spearheaded by the college’s neighbors.
But costs to clear the sludge quickly soared past original projections and the dirt has remained untouched. The dredgings are now covered with thick weeds and vegetation that more than likely is in violation of the city’s weed ordinances, Iola Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Bauer said.
The college declined a request from the private landowners to increase its financial obligations to have the dirt removed, but said the neighbors could sell the dirt and keep the proceeds.
Trustees directed Masterson to touch base with the college’s neighbors about their plans before deciding the college’s next step.
