GENTRY -- Employers across the state hope the Gentry School District's new Career and Technical Education Center will become a model, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday at the center's opening ceremony.
The center will teach nursing, information technology, and diesel engine repair and maintenance to participating high school students from four cooperating school districts: Gentry, Decatur, Gravette and Bentonville. Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale and Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville are also cooperating. Gentry School District Superintendent Terrie Metz also said district officials hope to offer after-hours classes to adults at the center in the near future.
Hutchinson and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers joined dozens of local, state and business leaders at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The governor and the congressman both mentioned the lack of skilled workers throughout the state.
"The single biggest concern I hear from those building their businesses and expanding is the lack of a skilled workforce," Womack said.
All three of the fields taught at the center are in very high demand, particularly diesel maintenance and repair, said school and business leaders at Tuesday's ceremony.
"We could put 20 guys to work right now, would like to hire 50 and we're just one company surrounded by others," said Kenneth Calhoun, vice president of customer relations at Truck Centers of Arkansas, which sells new and used commercial trucks.
The information technology and diesel programs are expanding with teachers brought in from private industry, Gentry district spokesmen said. The diesel program will have 15 students with a waiting list for others this school year, and the information technology classes will have 10 students. The certified nursing assistant and health care classes have 102 students signed up for the upcoming school year. Each of the programs lasts two years, with two class periods daily.
A trucking company did not provide the original impetus for the diesel courses at the center. A baking company did. McKee Foods, the maker of Little Debbie snack cakes, operates a plant that is one of the Gentry area's largest employers. Gentry district officials brought their idea for a career center to McKee Foods years ago and asked what the company's Gentry location needed. The company needed diesel mechanics to maintain its fleet of vehicles, company spokesmen said.
"Not long ago, we advertised a position for a diesel mechanic. Thirty-four days later, our human resource director told me we didn't have a single applicant," said James Berry, superintendent of the trucking fleet at McKee's location in Gentry.
A high school graduate going through the center's diesel program can get an entry-level technical assistant job at between $10 and $15 an hour, according to U.S. Labor Department figures. After initial training by the company hiring the technician, that can go up to $16 a hour, but that is only the start, said Calhoun, Berry and others.
"There's not a person managing in our company who didn't start by working on trucks," Berry said. "That's how you become a supervisor. It's a career path." Workers with the necessary skill set find plenty of opportunities for advancement, Calhoun said, and Berry agreed.
If the Gentry center works as planned, McKee will support similar efforts in other states and is looking at prospects now, said company spokesman John Williams, corporate fleet maintenance manager at McKee's headquarters in Collegedale, Tenn. The company is sending Tyson Sontag, a master mechanic, to Gentry as a teacher during part of his workdays. Sontag has won multiple state competitions and one national championship in his field, Berry said.
Then-Gentry Superintendent Randy Barnett and his staff were the ones who approached McKee with the idea for a center. Barnett retired in June after 25 years at the district. He is a native of southeast Arkansas who said he hopes the concept spreads to other parts of the state.
Metro on 08/11/2017