Options explored for keeping Boat School afloat in Eastport

Planning is presently under way for how the Marine Technology Center of the Washington County Community College (WCCC) can remain in Eastport after this year and be sustained for the future.

When Governor John Baldacci agreed in July to provide state funding to help cover a shortfall at the Boat School, it was agreed that a planning process would be undertaken and that a committee would look at the facilities, ways to increase enrollment and funding assistance. That plan is to be presented to the governor in December.

WCCC President William Cassidy is still working on a plan for how to sustain the school that he hopes to complete within the next month and present to the Maine Community College System board of trustees. The plan includes ideas for recruitment of students and working with the private sector and the boatbuilding industry. Eastport City Manager George Finch has also been working with Cassidy and the Friends of the Boat School on a report that may be forwarded with Cassidy's.

The Friends of the Boat School group was formed this summer and has made recommendations for programs to be offered at the school and ways to make it sustainable, including a robust marketing program, an alumni and development program, a student and community relations program, independent management with marine industry experience, and a business model.

Although the Friends of the Boat School have requested that Cassidy go over his plan with them before it is given to the trustees, Cassidy says he won't be reviewing it with them, although he has attended some of their meetings, during which visions for the school were discussed. Among the ideas discussed were having a resident director again and providing transportation from the dorms in Calais to the center.

Cassidy says recruitment for students will continue at boat shows and high schools and through brochures, posters and the Maine Marine Trade Association. A stronger recruitment effort, though, has been suggested by the Friends. A website that Tom MacNaughton has developed for his yacht and commercial design firm now provides information about the Boat School, and he is receiving more than one serious inquiry a week from possible students. "People just weren't finding out about the school," MacNaughton says.

The demand for the training is substantial, as a study in 2003 by the Maine Department of Labor and the Maine Marine Trade Association showed that 65% of marine-based businesses in Maine were planning an expansion, so that even more skilled people will be needed, and 72% have difficulty recruiting employees.

Cassidy says the community college is considering taking some services farther south in the state, perhaps to Ellsworth, Rockland, Bath and Portland, through continuing education and apprenticeship training. The boatbuilding industry might provide some seed funding for bringing the training to the industry. Hybrid training, such as for using the Travelift, is also being considered, with a combination of online teaching, the worker coming to the school or the training being brought to the worker. Such apprenticeship training would not jeopardize the Boat School in Eastport, though, Cassidy says. "We need services to go beyond Eastport," he states.

Cassidy says discussions have considered how the Marine Technology Center's use can be improved for education and economic development. Under-utilized parts of the facility could be used to complement the marine industry, although "we want to be sure we don't infringe on the private sector," says Cassidy. A collaboration with the municipality of Eastport is also on the table.

Four possible options for the future of the school are being considered by the Friends of the Boat School. One possibility is for the state "to step up to the plate" and provide the funding to make the facility the world-class training center that it should be, says boatbuilding instructor Dean Pike. A second option is for the state to maintain what it is doing this year and allow private businesses to help subsidize the facility by renting space. This year Moose Island Marine is renting space for storage and repair of boats and Butch Harris will be renting space to rebuild the Sylvina W. Beal. Pike, though, notes that the state would only offer a one-year contract, and businesses cannot operate on such short-term contracts.

A third possible alternative is for the community college to turn over management of the facility to a municipality or private entity, such as the City of Eastport, the Eastport Port Authority or the Friends of the Boat School. That group would operate the facility and lease space back to the community college, which would still run the boatbuilding program. The fourth option would be to privatize the facility and have a private firm or educational institution such as Maine Maritime Academy run the program. A municipality might own the property but not manage it. Such an option might make the tuition cost more expensive for students, though.

Pike says he would prefer the first option, with the community college fully funding the facility. "The Friends of the Boat School just want to provide a world-class Boat School and keep it in Eastport and have this place prosper," says Pike.

The Friends and the community college are also working to form an alumni association that could provide a channel for fundraising for the school and offer "a more political voice" for the school, says Pike.

Eleven students are enrolled in the boatbuilding program this year, out of the 19 that had initially enrolled. "When they heard the move to Calais was going to happen, we lost people," notes Pike. The students will be building a plank-on-frame Whitehall rowing tender and a cold-molded, wood-and-epoxy Whitehall designed by Tom MacNaughton. MacNaughton is an adjunct faculty member who is teaching part of the drafting course with Michael Chudy. Also serving as adjunct faculty are Butch Harris and James Pearson, who are teaching boat handling. Pike, though, says another full-time instructor is needed. "We're giving the students all that the curriculum has, but we're not doing it as efficiently as if two people were here."

"If the community college would state that the boatbuilding program will be in Eastport and add one more full-time faculty, the industry would have a lot more faith in what's going on and we could recruit more students," says Pike. "This will be the last year the boatbuilding program will be in Eastport, unless the trustees make an effort to keep it here. If the trustees feel the legislature will fund this school, it will stay here. Otherwise I'm in hopes that the facility gets taken over by the municipality of Eastport."

"This place has just gotten whittled down year after year," points out Pike. "If the state is really concerned with the future of the Maine marine trades, it's crazy for this school not to be fully funded."

Cassidy says he has the commitment to keep the Boat School in Eastport and is "cautiously optimistic" that the funding assistance will be obtained for the school to move forward.