The South Central School Board was told Wednesday night there is considerable interest from students in attending vocational class under the Kaskaskia College Now program.
Incoming Superintendent Sarah Rose says 22 students attended a recent meeting on what the program can offer.
“They have offered a tremendous variety of programs to our school that we could not afford to do on our own,” Rose said. “We have students that are wanting to be licensed, so they offer the programs that get the students ready for the test so they can get their license. There’s anything from HVAC to nursing to education to general education courses. We’re going to see our students hopefully either graduate with a license and a trade, or graduate with a substantial amount of college credits toward going on to college.”
Rose says Kaskaskia College cuts the tuition in half for students in the KC Now program. She notes the district and Kaskaskia College are committed to even doing more for students who need additional financial help to participate.
“We’re also getting an additional 25% discount because we have free and reduced lunch for all of our kids. For those kids that take gen eds, a lot of times that’s something that the parents will pay for, but if there is a need, our district will help to pay for that.”
Rose says one student has already started in the KC Now program in the spring semester and she expects around half the junior class could enroll in KC Now classes. She reports students will continue to be able to select programs at the Okaw Vocational Center or nursing classes at Salem Community High School.
Superintendent Kerry Herdes says all funds are positive and they are in a good place halfway through the school year. Expenses are down three percent compared to last year and revenues are up 11 percent.
The board hired their current auditor Glass and Shuffett to do this year’s audit.
