April 9, 2024 at 6:00 PM - Pioneer Technology Center Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Also in attendance were Traci Thorpe, Ryan Burkett, Kendra Keelin, Kahle Goff, Stacey Rush, Molly Kyler, Terri Busch and Allison Christy.

Discussion:  Dondi- Work Ready Ponca City. Thank you for supporting our program, getting off the ground and getting all of our office completed. First class started April 1st. We get a lot of knowledge from Fae about PTC. Cena was part of the TANF program previously. She brings that knowledge to the table. We are helping TANF recipients things such as updated resumes and better interview skills. We teach communication skills, and we also give them the skills needed to keep a job and turn that into a career. We want our participants to want to go to work and do something they enjoy. Cena stated that they had a great turn out for the first class. We have had communication and marketing really helping to get the word out for us. This job training program is very rewarding and can be very emotional for us as trainers. Fae stated that the clientele we have are building their own network that they might not have previously had. We encourage them to come back and get more training if they are struggling. We want to make sure they are comfortable and supported in this step forward in their lives. 

Discussion: 
PTC is participating in a reciprocity agreement with NW Tech, High Plains, Autry and Chisolm Trails. Students from each of our tech center districts can attend one of the other schools as an in-district
student if attending a program that is not offered or is not available at their home district. NOC representatives will be at PTC on Friday to visit with groups of our students about the pathways to
their degrees from PTC programs.ODCTE has re-entered a contract with DHS for providing TANF services to clients. There will be some
changes to the continued contract, and we will be meeting with ODCTE/DHS and another tech center with a TANF program to discuss new contract. They are interested in PTC participating in these
discussions, because we have a WRO program, a HSE program and a strong TANF (New Beginning)
program. Dr. Burkett, Chuck Rector, Cody Tabor and Traci met with Mike Leonard, IBEW, and a representative from the Electrical Training Alliance to discuss Interim Apprenticeship curriculum and credentials. We
will be working to identify a pathway for students to electrical careers that aligns this curriculum with what we can offer and connects them to either IBEW or a local contractor.
Central Tech is planning to donate a truck to PTC for our Class B CDL training needs. We appreciate their partnership and willingness to assist other schools in obtaining necessary training equipment.
Molly was recently approached by an economic development group from North Dakota who is planning a benchmarking trip to PTC/Ponca City and Hobbes, NM, to learn about our respective career and
technical training schools and partnerships with business, industry and economic development efforts.The ND group of economic development and community leaders will be touring Ponca City and PTC on
Monday, the 8th and with PCDA on the 9th. Molly has done a phenomenal job of organizing the activities, presenters and events for the Ponca City leg of their visit. Director Haken will join us to visit
about our state system, and we will also hear from community and state leaders and a panel of our North Central Oklahoma Center for Workforce and Economic Development partners. PTC hosted the B&I Breakfast for the IT/Networking/Cyber Security sector in March. Twenty-two participants were in attendance. Discussion centered around staff awareness, training resources and
security best practices.
• The capital planning committee met to review our maintenance schedules and to identify potential summer or upcoming projects. Some of the upcoming projects include:
o Construction trades shop ceiling scraping and floor polishing
o South parking lot conversion from asphalt to concrete and adding a concrete apron
extension to the east of the Fire Training Tower
o B-Hallway bathroom remodel/updates
o South hallway brick resurfacing
o C-Hallway shops 109, 110, and 111 HVAC upgrade
o Shop garage door and exhaust fan replacements
o BIS carpet replacement
 We are in the process of identifying interviewees for the Apprenticeship Coordinator position. We are working on the succession planning for the PN retirements and will have a recommendation for
opening those positions when that has been determined.
• April 17 - Spring SDE Accreditation Site Visit
• April 23-24 - CTE Superintendent Meeting @ Eastern Oklahoma County Tech Center, Choctaw
• April 26th - PN Spring Pinning Ceremony
• May 2-3 - 3rd Grade Career Fair Days
• May 3rd - BPOC Graduation

Discussion:  BIS has been working on designing and branding logos. We have worked on borrowers training for FSA loans, we helped a business close gracefully. We have done loan assistance and licensing for others. Connecting our students with our industry partners to get hands-on experience for our students. We had a non-profit conference. We had some time for networking and Brook went to Payne county to consult on some different things. We took the hearing trailer to test 64 employees in Ponatoc county. Pioneer Tech hosted HR training for EL Patio as bilingual training across several campuses.