The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees accepted a bid November 22nd for complete replacement of the gym floor at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton. The bid was for $141,200 from Charles Luebbert Hardwood Floors, Incorporated of Jefferson City.
Vice President of Business and Finance Tyson Otto reported an initial payment of $50,000 would be made through the NCMC Athletics Club account. The remaining balance will be covered by NCMC. The NCMC Athletics Club account will then be charged $25,000 per year until the remaining amount is paid in full.
The bid accepted was the only one received. Otto noted bids were taken early on the project to get the replacement scheduled for the upcoming summer. The project will take six to eight weeks to complete.
Otto added that the Ketcham Community Center gym floor is 25 years old.
The board renewed NCMC’s service contract with Network Technology Partners. The cost of services is $51,000 per year. The Computer Operations Budget will fund the purchase.
Chief Information Officer Jennifer Triplett said NTP provides 24/7 threat monitoring of NCMC’s network, periodic network security testing, and cybersecurity consulting services. NCMC has worked with NTP since 2018.
Triplett reported a formal request for proposals was conducted last year, and NTP had the lowest-cost bid.
The board approved personnel items. They included the hiring of Ashley Bonnett of Galt as a Campus Store Associate—Retail Operations and Pamela Albert of Saint Joseph as the Nursing Administrative Specialist—Savannah, both starting November 28th. Chief of Staff Kristi Harris noted Albert will be at the Maryville Technical Center until the Savannah Campus is “up and running,” then she will move to the Savannah Campus. Amanda Pummell of Saint Joseph was hired as a part-time Clinical Adjunct Instructor for the spring.
A revised job description was approved for an Industrial Technology Instructor for the Savannah Campus. The position was previously called an Agriculture Equipment Instructor. Harris said NCMC hopes the changes and description will better fit the need the college has for courses and workforce demands in the area and for students and industries.
The board accepted the resignations of Green Hills Head Start employees. They included for Unionville Co-Teacher Katie Gadberry, Chillicothe B Teacher Aide Ashley Sensenich, Brookfield B Teacher Aide Alexis Clements, and Brookfield A Cook Megan Ruffier.
The 2023-2025 academic calendar was approved. It includes information for the fall semesters, spring intercessions, spring semesters, summer intercessions, and summer sessions for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years.
The board changed next month’s meeting time from December 27th at 5:30 in the evening to December 20th at noon. Harris proposed the change because NCMC will be closed for Winter Break at the regular meeting time.
The board entered into an executive session for possible discussion of employees, legal action, and real estate.
North Central Missouri College Director of Marketing and Admissions Megan Pester presented admissions information at the NCMC Board of Trustees meeting November 22nd.
She reported 88 students applied during a free application event. The college is up 70 applications compared to one year ago at this time.
Pester said after a conference in July, NCMC decided to shift its recruiting to focus in the region. Admissions Recruiter Chris Mengel has gone to about 40 high schools and around 15 college fairs. He plans to go to high schools in the spring, too.
NCMC has held three junior/senior days and plans to hold one more in December. In the past, the college has held three.
There have been 156 individual tours given for the calendar year. Eleven more are scheduled before Christmas Break. The biggest month for tours was October.
Enrollment Marketing Specialist Amanda Sampsel plans to have Pirate Preview Days in the spring, so prospective students can have the perspective of a college student.
Pester noted Admissions/International Student Representative Jamie Cunningham plans to visit Curacao and Tonga.
She reported anytime anyone inquires about NCMC, the college sends information on the specific program in which a student is interested.
More than 300 students attended the college fair at NCMC, and there were about 50 vendors.
The Admissions Department is doing an internal audit with Information Technology Services to go over processes. Pester hopes to make the processes better and less time-consuming.
Chief Information Officer Jennifer Triplett reported IT Services has been focusing on the Savannah Campus. She said a recent milestone was the physical installation of Lenovo servers as the foundation of the virtual server environment. Once complete, the infrastructure will allow local end user logon authentication and printing to Savannah-based printers.
The NCMC Maintenance Team assisted IT Services recently with transporting Savannah Phase 1 classroom audio/visual hardware to the site. The implementation event is scheduled for December 5th through 9th. Triplett noted IT Services is working with SVT and CDWG to coordinate and execute the project.
She reported that, over the past month, IT Services has worked with Network Technology Partners to configure computing and network resources to allow successful testing of NCMC’s network. IT Services partners with NTP for monitoring and remediating network security issues.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Doctor Tristan Londre was not at the meeting. President Doctor Lenny Klaver provided an update on Londre’s behalf.
Spring enrollment has begun. NCMC will move operations at the North Belt Center to Savannah over the break to be ready for classes there in January.
Klaver said that, after students come back from Thanksgiving, there will be one more week of classes before finals.
It was noted that a Micro Apps class Sarah Bird is teaching had a 100% pass rate on the Microsoft Office Specialist certification.
NCMC is finalizing the dates for its initial accreditation visits with Surgical Technology and Radiologic Technology. The Surgical Tech visit is expected in March, and the Rad Technical visit is anticipated in April.
Vice President of Student Affairs Doctor Kristen Alley reported her office is focused on getting as many students registered as possible.
A Christmas lighting event is scheduled for November 30th. She said it is a great way to start the holiday season.
Director of Development Alicia Endicott provided a memo with an update of the NCMC Foundation and Alumni Association. She reported Director of Library Services Doctor Beth Caldarello was recently awarded the NCMC Foundation Bill Ausmus Faculty/Staff Mini Grant for her application requesting supplies for the Testing Center.
Klaver reported NCMC is number one for graduation rate in the Missouri Community College Association at 49%.
Twenty-seven financial aid visits were made this semester.
He noted there are a lot of new people who won in the November 8th election at the state and federal level. The college decided to hold a legislative forum toward the start of next year instead of late this year. That way addresses for new legislators can be obtained, and they can be contacted.
Klaver reported NCMC’s Transforming Lives, Empowering People Campaign is doing well. Rich Gross visited November 17th and 18th. He noted the college does not plan to go public on the campaign until the spring.
Klaver said the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development has started a process of review and recommendation of the funding formula for postsecondary education.
The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems was hired for consulting. A 36-page framework was provided for a funding model that has a performance component, and the MCCA has discussed concerns.
Klaver hopes the plan gives two-year colleges credence. He noted tuition and fees for institutions vary.
Green Hills Head Start Director Janet Gott reported Head Start is 10 short for prekindergarten enrollment and one short for Early Head Start. She thinks some of the prekindergarten students who would like to move to the centers are from the home-based program, but they have problems with transportation.
Gott said Head Start revised the makeup day policy to include alternative methods of instruction days. Staff members will provide activity bags and virtual learning for each family.
Head Start is partnering with Second Harvest Community Food Bank, and Second Harvest will provide four pallets that will include 60 bags of food per pallet for each month through the winter. Each bag has about 10 and a half pounds of food.
Head Start Director Sue Ewigman reported Head Start can count a virtual day as a day of classes if there is food provided.
Gott explained Head Start was first focusing on centers with the bags of food, but it has expanded to home-based students. She thinks the bags are meeting the needs of families, and families are appreciative.
Gott reported that she, Ewigman, Tina Marrs, and Emily Miller attended a conference and learned Head Start centers other places in Missouri as well as in Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa are closed due to staffing shortages. They heard information about child safety and child incident reports due to staffing shortages.
Gott said it made her stop and think about if Green Hills Head Start is keeping children safe.
The North Central Missouri College Board of Trustees, in an executive session November 22nd, approved a one-time pay supplement for full-time and permanent part-time employees who work with NCMC students.
Chief of Staff Kristi Harris reports those full-time employees will receive $500, and those permanent part-time employees will receive $200. Employees hired after July 1st and before October 31st will have prorated amounts. The amount will be applied to the end of the November pay distribution.
Harris says the supplement is awarded for the hard work and loyalty those employees have dedicated to make NCMC successful.
