LIBERAL — The Seward County Community Board of Trustees met Monday, May 5 following the spring board-student dinner. The twice yearly dinner brings a cross-section of students to the dining table with trustees for conversation and intentional feedback.
“It was a good dinner, with good kids,” said trustee Kelly Hill. “It’s good to see that we’ve got a lot practical education happening, that’s going into our workforce.”
Board chair Ron Oliver agreed, noting, “the world’s in good hands.”
The board received a final written report from SCCC Foundation Director Teresa Randle, who resigned in May to return to private sector work. As the Foundation works through the transition, SCCC Financial Aid Director Amy Bridenstine will help on an interim basis.
Foundation board member Trevor Winchester submitted a temporary resignation from the Foundation in order to assist with bookkeeping needs.
The Foundation’s annual giving day is set for May 22, with a special project focus of improvements to the Saints Softball complex: infield turf, new fencing, a warning track, leveling of the outfield, sprinkler system adjustments to accommodate upgrades, repainting of the dugouts, and helmet racks. As always, noted SCCC President Brad Bennett, Giving Day encourages donors to contribute to the project but also accepts earmarked funds designated as the donor wishes.
The board approved the personnel report, which included the hiring of assistant men’s basketball coach Marquis McCray. Current job openings include: instructors for accounting, agronomy, computer information systems, and automotive technology; assistant livestock judging coach/ag instructor; director of Medical Laboratory Technology/faculty; assistant athletic director of operations, executive director of foundation; and a part-time safety and security officer.
Dr. Amber Jones, Vice President of Career Technical Education, provided an overview of the recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Garden City Community College and SCCC. The MOU specifies that SCCC students can now enroll in the Registered Medical Assistant course offered by GCCC, taught virtually by their instructors and accessed on the SCCC campus.
“We have a pretty low number of students that need this program, which precludes us establishing it ourselves,” said Bennett.
SCCC explored the MOU option in response to requests from Southwest Medical Center and healthcare providers in the community, who want to hire RMA credential holders, said Vice President of Academic Affairs Luke Dowell.
Jones noted that students interested in the RMA must first complete Certified Nurse Aide, Certified Medication Aide, and phlebotomy certificates, all of which are offered by SCCC.
The board unanimously approved acceptance of the MOU.
Review of an existing MOU that outlines the college’s partnership with GCCC for the Commercial Drivers License credential — taught by SCCC at the Garden City site —was tabled until the June meeting.
The Board also tabled an agenda item for possible suspension of the Saints athletics cheer program for FY26. Bennett said further discussion is needed to explore options before the issue comes to the trustees for a vote.
Vehicle fleet will work with Enterprise
The SCCC vehicle fleet will take a new approach to replace aging vehicles, following a unanimous vote to contract with Enterprise rentals. Vice President of Business Affairs Maddie Day explained that Administration identified the need for two sedans to update SCCC’s vehicle fleet.
“Working with Enterprise, we have configured a plan to upgrade five vehicles with the remaining time this year and next year within the normal vehicle replacement budgets,” she stated. “Ford, Chrysler, and Chevrolet no longer make sedans. Enterprise is recommending a mid-size Nissan Altima. The car is built in the United States. For FY25, we budgeted for one car and one mid-size SUV. The SUV that was originally approved could not be purchased. The purchase of the two Nissan Altimas would replace the mid-size SUV for this year.”
The Board of Trustees accepted the bid from Enterprise for two 2025 Nissan Altimas at a price of $46,722.00, as presented
Upgrades to Mansions Student Housing
The board approved update to the Mansions dorm buildings over summer 2025. The buildings were last painted in 2017, Day explained, “so it is time to give them a facelift to match the updated SLC building, which also enables us to increase the housing charge to students to match the prices we are charging at SLC.” Each building has eight rooms for a total of 16 rooms and restrooms to be painted. Touch of Class Painting, LLC, Turpin, OKla., won the bid for the job with a price of $24,500.
Eighteen windows for the Mansions are original to the build in 1999 and 2001 and are at end of life, with leaking that causes additional issues for the building. The board voted to replace the windows with new, green-framed windows installed by Southwest Glass and Door, Liberal, which submitted the low bid of $37,600.
After inspecting the current flooring, in the Mansions, Day said, “it was determined that the tile flooring is not glued down, but laid as a floating floor. There has been some water damage in the ADA accessible room around the shower area and around the windows.” Flooring America & Furniture Outlet, Liberal, submitted a bid to replace the flooring for a price of $57,000, which the board approved. The new flooring will match the laminate flooring installed in the Student Living Center dorm building.
Greenhouse gymnasium air conditioning
As the college prepares to install air conditioning units for the gym, administration identified the need to add support joints to the east wall in the Greenhouse. The wall will need the additional strength to be able to hold the A/C unit as there is a lot of space between supports and some cracks were found in the wall.
“Dalkin TMI, LLC has worked with French Construction, LLC to do the additional work required. The total quote was $60,000 and we negotiated our portion to be $17,500 for the repairs, with Dalkin to pay the $42,500 remaining on the quote,” reported Day.
Air conditioning in the gym has been a long-standing request from student athletes, coaches, and the community, noted Pres. Brad Bennett.
“We’ll get there,” he said, “and it’s going to make a big difference.”
In conjunction with the project, the gym has received a fresh coat of Seward green paint, and banners are down for cleaning and organization.
Virtual reality headsets for Allied Health students
The board approved the purchase of nine Apple Vision Pro Virtual Reality headsets with video see-through capability.
“Allied Health would like to pilot this foray into the digital space for Allied Health students to give them more clinical practice opportunities that will enhance their hands-on clinical experiences,” noted the executive team request. “We have five industry partners to assist with the grant. The project will offer support to students that will translate into more success on allied health licensure examinations. The economic benefit to this is less expense and time in retraining and retaking examinations, putting allied health professionals into jobs more quickly to meet industry need. It can also be used for onboarding training in skills related to new medical equipment and clinical experiences, helping to improve confidence and reduce anxiety for frontline workers and helping them to hit the ground running when hired.”
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to waive policy 505 and accept the bids from CDW-G for nine VR goggles and nine carrying cases in the amount of $34,715.16, as presented.
The board received reports from the executive team.
Associate Vice President of Athletics Cody Cole
• Softball finished with two tough losses to Hutch and Colby
• Baseball will finish this week although their games scheduled midweek might due to rain
Women’s tennis is at nationals, waiting on scores and standings after a successful first.
• Men’s tennis will go to finals in Florence, S.C., this weekend.
Vice President of Career & Technical Education Dr. Amber Jones
Adult Education learned April 15 that we will receive a WIOA 231 Adult Basic Education and WIOA 243 Integrated English Literacy and Civics grant award. We will know in the coming weeks what the funding amount will be for 2026. Pres. Bennett and Adult Education Director Dr. Katie Reck will meet with KBOR May 13 to discuss the new grant cycle.
Adult Education Graduation is set for 3 p.m. May 10, with KBOR Assistant Director Julie Clark as guest commencement speaker ad Jose Torres, a graduating GED student and local pastor, giving the invocation/prayer. To date 22 GED graduates, 7 AO-K completers, and 10 ELA students will be recognized. We expect more GED students to complete by May 8.
Adult education session four welcomed 58 new students (37 ELA and 21 GED).
Seaboard Collaboration: New marketing materials were developed by Corey Mein, and collaboration with Seaboard continues to expand
Kansas Adult Education Association: SCCC received the President’s Grant for the second year in a row. Katie Reck has been appointed as the Area 1 Representative for the western Kansas region.
Business and Industry Kids College has approximately 30 classes scheduled and is working to finalize a few more. The team will begin creating the registration flyer to send home with students before the end of the school year. Sarah Thompson has spoken to most of the USD 480 schools to recruit teachers and has also attended a parent meeting to provide information about registering students
B&I, in collaboration with Vice President Luke Dowell and Claire Thompson, Instrumental Music Instructor, has partnered with USD 480 to develop a teacher apprenticeship program. The group has met multiple times, including with Joel Gillespie from the Kansas Department of Education (KDSE) to ensure we have all the components are in place. While KSDE serves as the intermediary for all teacher apprenticeships in the state, SCCC will be the educational partner for all apprentices who have not yet earned an associate’s degree. KDSE has approved the program, and USD 480 is now working to identify its apprentices and submit the application to the state.
The $30,000 Child Care Aware of Kansas Capacities Funds Grant has been received. B&I, in collaboration with the Early Childhood Coalition, will use these funds for early childhood initiatives and purchasing interpreter headsets. B&I is partnering with the Liberal Area Coalition for Families on the Digital Opportunities Grant they were awarded. This grant will support digital literacy training and may also fund the purchase of laptops for B& to use in an offsite computer training session.
Allied Health programs are working through applications and enrolling students now. The division is looking for CNA and CMA instructors, signed an MOU for the Registered Medical Assistant agreement with Garden City Community College, and will host its Nursing Pinning Ceremony at 6 p.m. May 8.
Industrial Technology’s truck driving program is going to receive the GCCC truck donation to allow diesel students to complete service work before returning it to truck driving. Across the division, instructors are working on assessment and program updates.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Luke Dowell
Spring semester classes end Friday, May 9. Finals will take place May 12 – 14 with grades due May 15.
The summer and fall enrollment cycle is looking good at week four: Fall 2025 enrollment is currently up 9 percent compared to last fall and up 52 percent compared to fall 2023. Summer 2025 enrollment is up 22 percent over last summer but down 31% compared to summer 2023, the last year we offered courses through Edukan. The admissions office is applying new processes to take advantage of Banner SAAS and their CRM software. This is providing opportunities for students to make appointments online with advisors. There will be All Saints Days as in the past for students to come in and enroll as well.
The HLC Institutional Update was submitted in early April. The Steering Committee worked to identify concerns raised by the review team of our assurance argument, working with offices across campus to address those concerns, and setting up a process to collect evidence annually in preparation for the next assurance argument submission in 2029. Next year the committee will focus on changes to the accreditation process and prepare for the site visit in 2027 that will focus on program review and assessment.
Due to changes in the academic calendar, graduation this year will be on Friday night, May 9. Graduation for vocational degrees will start at 6 p.m., followed by academic associate degree graduation at 8 p.m
Vice President of Business Affairs Maddie Day
The bookstore’s Easter Egg Hunt was a tremendous success and generated excitement across campus. Eggs containing discounts from 30% to 50% off one item were hidden across campus, creating an engaging and fun atmosphere for students and staff. We also included free mystery prizes, and offered a storewide 25% discount on logo items for the entire week.
Administrative Professionals Day was another successful event this month. We created thoughtful, ready-to-gift items including mugs filled with candy, with the option to add a gift card, small notebooks paired with decorative pens, Seward County-branded sticky notebooks, and drink and snack bundles.
Preparing for the upcoming graduation, many students have already purchased their regalia, and while we still have inventory available, we are beginning to run low on some sizes and items. To accommodate last-minute shoppers, we plan to extend store hours on graduation day until 9 p.m. This will provide ample time for students to pick up any forgotten or last-minute graduation needs. We will also offer graduation-themed gift bundles.
The process of collecting book adoptions for the upcoming Summer and Fall semesters is currently underway. Timely adoptions are essential to ensure proper stock and to keep costs manageable for students.
Information Technology has been working hard to start data conversions to the cloud. They are hoping to retire 29 servers before August. The owners of OculusIT have sold the company to an investment group that has experience in K-12 education settings. We are working closely with Dr. Mark Bojeun to make sure that our partnership and visions still align with upper management.
Business Office has been working closely with students to make sure that they follow the requests that have been laid out for student payments and enrollment. There has not been a lot of pushback on the new collections that we are enforcing.
There are a few issues that we are still working through with our Banner conversion. Controller Amy Knudsen has been an asset to Ellucian in finding defects in the system. We would like things to run the same in SaaS as they did on site. Accounts payable has had some tight deadlines and we would like to thank everybody for being flexible and getting things to the office in a timely fashion.
FY26 Perkins grant application has opened, so Amy Knudsen is working with faculty to get their requests and everything organized.
We would like to thank the volunteers that helped with campus cleanup. Facilities is working really hard this year to get the grounds looked great for graduation! There are a lot of little projects still happening across campus and they are working together to make sure that every bodies needs are met. They are also getting organized for summer projects.
President Brad Bennett
I was in Ulysses for their Chamber of Commerce coffee, and it was incredible. It’s my fourth time attending, and we honored high school students who will also be graduating from SCCC this week. This year, there are 15 attending.
Preparing for graduation is the main focus this week. We have a lot of new people but we’re working hard to make sure it goes well.
We will be interviewing for dean positions in student affairs starting this week.
We are working through the faculty negotiations process with PEA. I appreciate trustees Keeley Moree and Kelly Hill for working with that.
The new rules for LOIs in athletics are prompting a lot of conversation across the state. . We saw a little bit of disconnect among the presidents, we worked language out, put penalties to it, there’s some confusion we need to clear up. The new rules are a positive for our state and our college.
I will be the president of the Jayhawk conference next year.
Just a reminder, our Board meeting in June is on the 16th.