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Published Sunday, September 14, 2008 in Local
Technical schools' merger 'positive' Sullivan says
The Times-Herald
The merger of West Central Technical College and West Georgia Technical College will present challenges but will also offer opportunities for area students.
"My message to our college is that the merger can be seen as a positive thing to enhance what we have to offer students," said Dr. Skip Sullivan, West Central's president. He said there are friendships between officials at the two schools and that their goal is to create the best technical school in the state.
The merger of the two schools was announced Sept. 6. The merger is part of an effort by the Technical College System of Georgia to trim its spending in the face of stiff state budget cuts.
What is happening is "some consolidation to reduce overhead," Sullivan said. Mike Light, TCSG spokesman, said no campuses will be closed in the state as 14 schools merge their administrative functions.
Light also said employees might be reassigned but would not be let go as part of the merger process.
While administrative positions will be combined, which should result in cost savings, the focus in the cuts has been to keep programs running and students having a variety of educational opportunities.
"To take care of our students and keep faculty in the classroom -- that is our priority," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said "the beginning of a long process" will start today. "There's a large amount of work," he said, that affects a wide range of offices and staff members at the two schools.
The combined WCTC/WGTC will offer new opportunities to students at both schools. "There are programs we have that they don't have, and programs they have that we don't have," he observed.
A broadening of the curriculum is "one of the pieces we'll gain" through the merger, Sullivan said.
"It grows the size of the combined institution to be about the second largest college in the state with regard to technical colleges," Sullivan said. He said the combined enrollment should be more than 6,000 students, maybe even 6,500.
Presidents and acting presidents representing the institutions slated for mergers met with TCSG officials in Augusta on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, participants spent the day "going through a long checklist of things we need to take care of," Light said. Issues ranging from accreditation and student services to computer services and marketing were addressed.
The meeting also clarified for the presidents "who in the central office will be working" with which staff members at each school, Light said.
"Change always creates some apprehension and anxiety," Light said, but he said the Augusta conclave offered an opportunity to get questions answered and to help administrators be prepared to start the merger process today.
"It was a good meeting," he said. "Everybody's on board and ready to move forward."
WCTC has its main campus at Waco and also has campuses in Carrollton and Douglasville. The school offers classes in Coweta County at Central Educational Center and is making plans to build a permanent campus in Coweta.
West Georgia is located just a county away from Newnan in LaGrange. WGTC offers classes in three counties that adjoin Coweta -- at LaGrange and West Point in Troup, Franklin in Heard and Greenville and Luthersville in Meriwether.
In addition to the West Central-West Georgia merger, Griffin Technical College in Griffin and Flint River Technical College in Thomaston are also slated to be combined. Other schools on the list to be merged are:
* Swainsboro Technical and Southeastern Technical in Vidalia.
* Valdosta Technical and East Central Technical in Fitzgerald.
* Northwestern Technical in Rock Spring and Coosa Valley Technical in Rome.
* Appalachian Technical in Jasper and North Georgia Technical in Clarkesville.
* Chattahoochee Technical in Marietta and North Metro Technical in Acworth.
The merger of Chattahoochee, headquartered in Marietta, and North Metro, in Acworth, is already underway. There are 33 schools in the technical college system, but there will be 26 the mergers are completed.
The Chattahoochee-North Metro plan was announced in early August and provides something of a template for the system overhaul. "Both are outstanding technical colleges with superb faculties and modern campuses, yet they're less than 15 miles apart," noted Ron Jackson, TCSG commissioner.
"This is a significant and innovative opportunity to combine the colleges' resources and be even more responsive to the educational needs of our students," Jackson said in August. "Greater success for our students means a better-educated, more globally competitive workforce not just in the local community, but for all of Georgia as well."
When that merger was announced, a goal of combining the schools -- with a yet to be determined new name -- was set for July 1, 2009. Combined, the new college will have an annual enrollment of more than 13,500 students, making it Georgia's largest technical school.
The Chattahoochee-North Metro merger resulted from a study by a 17-member task force, chaired by Cobb businessman and TCSG state board member Earl Smith. The task force, formed last January, recommended to the TCSG in June that the colleges should be combined.