Before the adult education nursing program ends at the Lebanon County Career and Technological Center June 30, there are steps the administration must take before its accreditation is officially terminated by the state.
Judd Pittman, director of the Bureau of Career and Technical Education, Pennsylvania Department of Education, said there is a process that takes numerous factors into consideration once a school administration notifies the state it wants to cease operating an accredited program.
One such consideration is that current students are eligible for what Pittman called a teachout plan.
“If the local decision is to close out a program or if they don’t want to continue an adult education program, in general, there is a comprehensive process that they have to move through that includes ensuring that all participants have a pathway to receive their credentials,” said Pittman. “That is what we call a teachout plan.”
That means the adult nursing program at the Lebanon County CTC may extend beyond the June 30 date if current students haven’t passed exams required for LPN certification.
LebTown exclusively reported in February that the CTC administration had decided to end all adult education programming at the center, including its licensed practical nursing program, as of June 30.
“There has to be a clear pathway for each of the individuals currently in the program to get to their credentials,” said Pittman. “For instance, in the case of a practical nursing style program, one, it is to finish their course work and, two, there has to be an opportunity for them to take and pass their certification.”
That’s a process that Pittman noted can go on indefinitely until the student passes or decides to take another career path.
“If a student doesn’t pass a certification exam, for example, there’s a requirement in our guidance for building out a plan like that to find a partner or continue to provide the service so that student, in the case of a nursing program, would be able to go through the remediation required so that they can take the certification test again and pass,” said Pittman. “That cycle would continue until the participant would pass or decide that this is not for me and move on to the next opportunity. But there is a requirement on the provider of the adult program to comply with a process we call ‘Completer’ status.”
That requirement could be a reason the CTC had an agenda item at its May meeting to discuss a partnership opportunity with Harrisburg Area Community College.
That agenda item to discuss the HACC partnership was tabled during the CTC’s May board meeting and neither Andra Grollar, CTC administrator, or Ruth Ann Schlegel, CTC board chairman, commented on the record to LebTown afterwards about it.
LebTown filed at the end of May a Right-to-Know request for CTC and PDE documents to ascertain what information was contained in that motion, as well as several other agenda items also tabled at the same meeting and conversations between CTC and PDE officials. RTK responses have not been received from the CTC nor PDE as of publication.
In agreeing to an interview, PDE officials refused to discuss any specifics concerning the Lebanon County CTC’s adult education program, saying they would only talk about the process related to any entity wishing to cease their accreditation for adult education. The state oversees nine accredited adult education providers across the commonwealth.
“Regardless of the partner, part of what we do is meet with them on a regular cadence to help them, one, work through the process to know all of the potential risks and benefits and what all of this really entails and what it really means,” said Pittman. “We continue to meet with them at least on a weekly cycle as a partner to help them work through this.”
While there are many considerations, Pittman said the required work isn’t too voluminous.
“It’s not that it is overburdensome to do, but you have to be mindful and it takes a lot of planning, conversation and guidance. Our role is to really ensure that each of those participants who agree to be a part of a program have a pathway to success and that is what we really try to work with the local CTC on,” he added. “For the locals, it isn’t done in a vacuum, there’s support for them.”
Pittman said he can’t speak to the particulars concerning a potential partnership with HACC, but he said there is the possibility that the two might form a partnership.
“I really don’t know, quite honestly, if there’s some level of future-forward planning but what I can speak to is, the type of relationship that you are talking about, for example, where HACC would be a partner, we do, as part of this process, when phasing out an accreditation for adult learning, we would be sure to connect them with partners to explore all of their options,” said Pittman, who added HACC is eligible to enter into such an agreement with the county’s CTC.
Pittman added options include implementation of a teachout plan, helping CTC officials understand who potential partners are, and exploring the growth and facilitation of current programs to maintain current offerings but with a different facilitator like an area community college that is accredited.
“Those are all a part of the dialogue so that they know all of their options are on the table and they can best support their communities,” he said. “There is language in the school code that allows a secondary or a postsecondary partner that is running a career and technology program to run it in a satellite-site fashion.”
What matters more, then, is who is administering postsecondary education programs rather than where they are conducted.
“They can be the backbone, but they are doing it at a business partner, or at a local CTC, or at a CareerLink or at a community-organization partnership,” said Pittman. “That secondary or postsecondary partner has the flexibility and the freedom to open what we call a satellite site for technical education.”
As part of its Right to Know request, LebTown has asked Lebanon County CTC officials to submit communications it has conducted with HACC officials.
Pittman said Pennsylvanians are fortunate to have access to adult educational accreditation programs because the commonwealth is only one of two states (the other is Oklahoma) to provide this service free to learning centers.
“The adult accreditation opportunity is something that is unique,” said Pittman. “It is a really unique opportunity to provide equity for those centers that want to provide adult programs that are accredited. There’s no cost like going through Middle States or others, but there are requirements around it, so if you are trying to phase out your program or phase out your accreditation, then you have to reach out to us and we have to walk you through it.”
As part of the due diligence process conducted by the state, Pittman said partners are told what it means to end their accreditation since it is a gift benefiting the local community.
“It is really hard to really start this process, that once you have it, if you are thinking about phasing out, we try to be really clear with what that entails. It isn’t easy, it’s a lot of work,” he said. “This is the amount of sweat equity you are going to put into closing this program out. And we also really try to talk them through their root cause (concerning termination).”
Pittman said the review process with local postsecondary leaders is comprehensive.
“We ask, ‘why are you doing this,’ and we try to be really clear with them about all of the potential risks and the work it takes to phase out your accreditation,” he said. “But if you get down the road a year later and decide you want to do this again, we discuss all of the work that it takes to get back to that level again. It’s not like flipping a light switch on. It’s a whole multi-year process to get re-accredited.
“We try to be really honest and clear with partners about the work and the opportunity and offer up, as part of our role at the department, to convene partners to see if we can keep that accreditation. We know of the benefits of this and we try to be honest with our partners about it.”
Ultimately, however, the final decision lies with local officials, not the state.
“It falls on the decision authority of that local Joint Operating Committee (CTC’s board of directors) or the local board of the CTC to decide if we have the capacity or we don’t have the capacity. We have the need or we don’t have the need,” said Pittman. “We can only provide them the opportunity and the information to make the best decision for their communities.”
LebTown reported in May that a local resident, who attended the CTC’s month’s board meeting to express concerns about the adult LPN program ending, stated there were 50-plus jobs listed on Indeed’s website for open LPN nursing positions in Lebanon County at that time.
Read More: CTC board approves needs study, hears complaint about nursing program closure
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