A unanimous vote in Monroe has ensured that more than 600 Shoreline Community College students can stay in school for the education and training they want and need to turn their lives around.

On Monday, July 20, the Monroe School Board voted unanimously to approve a five-year contract with Shoreline for the Career Education Options/Learning Center North program. The CEO/LCN program is a partnership between Shoreline and King County that gives high-school dropouts ages 16-21 a chance to return to school.

“We’re grateful to find an education partner that shares our commitment to helping these young people,” SCC President Lee Lambert said. “These students are making a personal decision to better their lives. CEO/LCN is a successful program and we thank the Monroe School Board members for wanting to be a part of that success.”

Monroe had a one-year agreement with Shoreline for this past school year, but the new pact adds a needed measure of stability with the five-year timeframe.

“Monroe has a long history of thinking outside the box to help young people succeed,” said Rosemary O'Neil, communications director for the school district. “One size has never fit all and the Shoreline program offers another avenue for young people to gain the skills they need to be successful in whatever dreams they decide to follow.”

That an agreement is needed at all is a function of the state funding formula for these students.

In Washington, the state is obligated to provide an education through high school or age 21, whichever comes first. CEO/LCN students are under age 21, but due various circumstances, high-school based program aren’t an option. For so-called drop-out re-engagement programs such as CEO/LCN, the state funding that pay for the students comes through the K-12 system. To access those funds, Shoreline needs a K-12 public school system partner like Monroe.

“Without a partner like Monroe, we’d have to tell those students, ‘We’re closed,’” CEO program director Mariko Kakiuchi said.

State funding is based on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students in the program. Full time is defined as 15 credits in a college quarter. CEO/LCN serves more than 600 individuals a year coming to the program for education and training, which translates to funding at about the 290-FTE level, Kakiuchi said.

The agreement with Monroe means that each CEO/LCN student at Shoreline will also be, on paper at least, a student in the Monroe School District. Monroe will count the student for state tracking purposes, receive the state funding and then, after keeping a small administrative fee, pass the rest on to Shoreline.

“It means the college won’t count those FTEs, but there’s no reduction to our budget,” President Lambert said. “This comes at a good time when more students than ever are coming. Our summer student count was at an all-time high. Given the attention and focus on community colleges from President Obama on down, that trend looks like it will continue.”

SCC/Jim Hills

Above: Sunnyside High School automotive instructor Nick Paulakis rests his hand on an upside down GM diesel engine block as he asks a question during  a training session July 8, 2009, at Shoreline Community College.

Below: Chuck Nichols, from Marysville-Pilchuck High School, checks an error code in a Chevrolet truck as part of the week-long training program.

Click here for more photos.

Two dozen automotive instructors from high schools across Washington are converging on Shoreline Community College for 40 hours of training on the latest technology on the road.

And thanks to General Motors dealers across the state, it’s free.

“I know that the K-12 school systems are being affected by the economy like everyone else,” said Don Schultz, Director of SCC’s Automotive Technology Center. “Many of the school districts where these instructors are teaching the next generation of automotive technicians aren’t able to support this kind of training.

“Once I explained that to the GM dealers, they were happy to support the program. Not one of them said, ‘No.’”

What dealers said “yes” to funding are two, one-week training sessions with Patrick Koenen, the SCC instructor for the GM Service Technical College that is part of the college program. Koenen is literally a “World Class Technician,” the highest ranking possible by GM.

“The total cost of the two weeks is more than $4,000,” Schultz said. “This kind of support, at a time when the dealers are hurting, too, is phenomenal.”

Several of the instructors said that without the financial support, they would’ve gone without, ultimately hurting the high school students back home.

“This allows us to learn and then pass on to our students,” said Nick Paulakis, who has been the automotive instructor at Sunnyside High School for 26 years. “The first day, we were learning about the latest GM hybrids and last two days about latest advancements in diesels,” Paulakis said, adding that much of the training involves using computerized diagnostic tools. “When I was in tech school back in the ‘70s, they were saying things like, ‘Someday, there’ll be a computer in your car.’”

Paulakis said he usually goes to similar training at Portland Community College. “How can you pass up free?” he said.

Fred Donaldson, an automotive instructor in the Auburn School District, said that without the GM dealers’ support, he wouldn’t have been able to attend. “The district just doesn’t have the money for this kind of thing,” Donaldson said.

Chuck Nichols, the automotive instructor at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in the Marysville School District, echoed the sentiment: “Without the dealers’ help, I wouldn’t be here.”

SCC /Jim Hills