News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The White County School System will not move forward with a new culinary arts kitchen after a 3-3 vote Tuesday night in a special-called meeting.
Board Member Sherrie Stone said she thinks the culinary arts program is important, but there are not enough jobs in that industry in White County to warrant such a large expansion. Stone said the money would be better spent looking into other CTE programs that could be added to the district in the future.
“Who’s to say we might not need some of this space of this 3,400 for something for CTE?” Stone said. “I just think that’s valuable real estate and 3,400 square feet is a lot of room that we might could use a portion of that for another class.”
The School System received a $450,000 grant for the culinary arts program. But bids to construct a new kitchen came in some $200,000 over budget.
Board Member Adam Hickey said the culinary arts program needs to move to a new space because its current location fails to meet its electrical and plumbing needs. Hickey said he does not like how much the cost of the project has increased, but they already have have already a grant that would pay for much of it and it would be good for the county, schools, and students.
“Also, the people I’ve talked to (said) it is a very good field to go in,” Hickey said. “Yes, there are definitely long hours and hard to move your way up, but that’s pretty much with any business that you go into. So I just think it makes sense as far as, you know, getting that classroom moved out of that location.”
Board Member Tracy Fowler said she has heard conflicting opinions about the new kitchen from the people in her district.
“I’m having a big issue with the $650,000, you know, giving the $200,000 extra for it,” Fowler said. “And I get the construction costs have went up, I totally understand that because I come from that industry. And it may never go down. One of these days it may if we hit a recession, but until then it may just stay like this. But I think we need something. Do I feel like we need something this big? I don’t.”
Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said they need to be careful when considering new CTE programs because creating too many will hurt those that already exist by dividing the student population between them all too much.
“As a region, we’re trying to support one another,” Dronebarger said. “You know, we understand that Cookeville in the Upper Cumberland, or Putnam County rather is kind of the hub of the Upper Cumberland, and we support that as kind of bedroom communities. But we do things here that are unique to White County that other counties aren’t doing. And likewise they’re doing some things that we don’t in some of those CTE areas. And so we try and share collectively because maybe White County, in and of itself, may not be able to bring in an industry, that partner. But if we say, ‘Well nearby Jackson County’s doing this and Putnam County’s doing that and DeKalb County’s doing that,’ then we can get those industries ’cause they’ll know there’ll be those trained folks there.”
Chairperson Bob Young said that if they choose to spend this money on the culinary program that does not mean other CTE programs will be neglected.
“I think the case has been made that culinary is, the culinary program has been short-changed as far as investment goes,” Young said. “And what draws me to a positive, moving forward with this program is the fact that you have to pause and think about some students that will not qualify, are not interested in, or maybe don’t have the ability to participate in some of the higher-level courses, this gives them an option.”
