Boat School to close, positions cut, programs moving to Calais

Facing a projected $500,000 shortfall next year, the Washington County Community College (WCCC) will be closing most of the Marine Technology Center in Eastport, cutting some staff and moving programs from Eastport to its Calais campus.

The college had been restructuring the boatbuilding program this past year during a one-year suspension, and Washington County Community College President William Cassidy had stated last year, "This is not the death knell of this institution. We will re-engineer that center." Now he says the budget shortfall has "driven us to bring the boatbuilding and adventure recreation programs" to Calais.

Susan Swanton, executive director of the Maine Marine Trade Association, describes the decision as "a blow, to lose use of that really beautiful facility at Eastport." Swanton was involved in the process for restructuring the boatbuilding program so that it would better address the current needs of the industry. "The process was making a real attempt to look at what boatyards in Maine need for the workforce. Most of us felt that the school was listening to our needs."

Bret Blanchard, the department chair of marine technology and boatbuilding instructor, is one of the instructors being let go. "There's no question I think it [the boatbuilding program] should stay at the Marine Technology Center. It's the best facility in the state for teaching boatbuilding," he says. "Everything's there for what was the best boat school in the U.S."

The other boatbuilding instructor, Dean Pike, who has been at the Boat School for nearly 25 years and now will be teaching in Calais, comments, "Over a year ago Bret and I were told that if we kept the program focused and recruited heavily that the boatbuilding program would continue. I had recruited and told people and their parents that one of the reasons to come to the boatbuilding program in Eastport is because it's a far superior facility. It's what sets us apart from all the other schools."

With 23 applicants for the boatbuilding program for this coming year, 17 have accepted, although Pike believes more actually would have come. A full class has 20 students. Pike fears that some of the students now will not come and may perceive "that the rug was pulled out from under them." Blanchard also is concerned that students who will be entering the program this summer had been shown the Boat School facility and now will have to be told they will be at the Calais campus.

According to Cassidy, the move to the Calais campus will allow the college to reduce overhead costs and to attract more traditional-age college students to these programs, with access to college dorms and more course options.

Pike, though, fears that the space in Calais for the boatbuilding program will be about a quarter of the size of the Eastport space, and he points out that students will have to be transported to Eastport for marine hydraulic, boat handling and Travelift training. "It will be much more difficult to look around the Calais facility and say what a world-class facility it is," says Pike. "Boatbuilding is the community college system's only internationally known program with the highest percentage of out-of-state students of all the programs."

Swanton also believes the move to Calais will make it more difficult to recruit students for the boatbuilding program. However, Cassidy says, "I don't think it will be harder to recruit students. Students look at the program's content and the environment of the college." He says that there is a perception that boatbuilding needs to be taught near the water, but he notes that the Landing School in Kennebunkport is located on a dairy farm. "It's not essential to be on the water," he says.

Swanton, though, comments that a waterfront campus is "definitely a bonus" for teaching the skills needed at a boatyard. "You don't learn how to launch a boat by reading a book."

Pike also is unsure how the program will be offered with only one instructor. Blanchard taught drafting, computer-aided design, lofting, wood technology, principles of small-craft design, corrosion, marine drive-train selection and other aspects of boatbuilding. This coming year, the two-year program will only have freshmen students, and Cassidy expects a second-year instructor will be brought back next year and some adjunct faculty may be hired if needed.

Cuts at Eastport and Calais
The Marine Technology Center is projected to cost the college $160,000 in operating expenses next year. According to Pike, the Boat School will be absorbing about $230,000, or nearly half of the college's $500,000 shortfall, through the cuts in personnel and the reduction in facility costs.

"It has always absorbed more of the shortfall in the past and it continues to do so in the present," says Pike. "Since [former director] Junior Miller passed away, every time there have been cuts needed to be made, Eastport has always sustained more than its share on a student-number basis." Previous cuts at the Eastport campus have included the commercial fishing program, the marine mechanics program, marine painting and the aquaculture program, along with the division head, waterfront technician, custodial, secretarial and librarian positions. Now, two-thirds of the boatbuilding faculty have been cut, with the elimination of the positions held by Jeremy Chapman and Bret Blanchard. "Basically, they've kept cutting and wonder why enrollment doesn't increase," says Pike. "If you're going to have a world-class boatbuilding program, you need to have it in a world-class facility."

Cassidy says the choice is not "Calais versus Eastport. We couldn't maintain the overhead there." He adds, "I understand the anger some people have. But I have no choices. They're extremely limited."

State Senator Kevin Raye (R-Perry) says he is very disappointed by Cassidy's decision, but he notes, "I do understand he's facing some serious fiscal challenges." He believes the community college president has had to face $1.4 million in cuts since he took the position. Last year, the college faced a $550,000 budget shortfall.

Throughout the community college, staff being let go are two faculty C a boatbuilding instructor and a truck driving instructor C a part-time administrative support staff person and a full-time administrator. Also, three positions are being reduced in hours.

The college is streamlining multiple credential offerings in three program areas C Business Studies, Computer Technology and Culinary Arts. Each program currently offers four specialized credentials; they will each be streamlined to one main option, with students able to take courses in specialty areas. The education technician program will be suspended for review, and the college will also eliminate the commercial truck driving license course. All current students pursuing a credential in a section targeted for review will be able to continue until they have earned their degree.

Some programs are "under-subscribed," Cassidy says, and efforts will be made during the coming year to increase recruitment of students. He says there could be more staff reductions next year.

Cassidy says the shortfall is the result of state funding not keeping pace with rising costs, flat enrollment, escalating costs in fuel, health care rates, retirement and other operating expenses. The Maine Community College System had requested a 6% increase in state funding but will be receiving only a 2.8% increase.

Cassidy says the budget cuts will be presented to the president of the community college system and ultimately to the board of trustees, but he has the authority to suspend programs for up to two years without action by the Maine Community College System's board of trustees. Any decision to eliminate a program must be made by the board.
According to Alice Kirkpatrick, director of public affairs for the community college system, the president of the community college can decide to move programs without approval of the board of trustees. However, because there are so many programs being suspended throughout the state this year, the board's educational policy committee will be reviewing them at its June 7 meeting in Augusta.

A move out of teaching the trades?
Eastport City Manager George Finch, who is also the chairman of the advisory board for the Washington County Community College, has written a letter to Governor John Baldacci and the Washington County legislative delegation concerning the closure. He says he is "very frustrated" with state government and with the community college system, which he views as moving away from teaching trades courses that lead to good-paying jobs. Finch notes that the city chose to stand by the restructuring process "instead of crying out to Augusta for funding. We agreed to be champions of change in the belief that the state and community college system would perform as they stated by rewarding those who diligently worked towards improving the system."

While recognizing the funding problems, he adds, "We do not understand how in just a couple of short years the system has so quickly converted away from what the technical schools had for so many years accomplished C that change, of course, being the training of students to work in a skilled profession."

Pike observes that the Maine Community College System's board of trustees appears to support the teaching of the trades, "but my question to them would be, when was the last time you laid off a math, English, psychology or sociology teacher?" Tongue-in-cheek, he adds, "All, of course, things you can find immediate employment for in the state of Maine."

Those in the boatbuilding industry have indicated there is a significant need for skilled people, and a study that the Maine Marine Trade Association and the Maine Department of Labor conducted two years ago showed that 65% of marine-based businesses in the state are planning an expansion, so that more skilled people will be needed, and 72% have difficulty recruiting employees.

Future uncertain
WCCC will still use the Marine Technology Center for waterfront activities for the boatbuilding program, such as boat handling and Travelift instruction, and the adventure recreation program will still use it for kayaking and the climbing wall. The Maine Sea Grant program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service's veterinary service will continue to be located at the Eastport campus in the one building being kept open. The college also will still provide local access to the pier and docks.

Cassidy says the college will work with Eastport officials and others to pursue a planning grant to explore options for future utilization of the Eastport campus. He says it's possible the school could come back and suggests that alternative funding sources may be sought. Also, business incubator programs, perhaps for a boatbuilding company, possibly could be developed and provide jobs and internships for students and help continue "the rich heritage history of the center."