District still working on auto collision course

Carson High continues to try to make an auto body collision repair course at Western Nevada College viable, but concerns remain with classes being held at nights at the WNC campus the biggest sticking point.

The Carson City School District Board heard an update on Carson High’s plan to hold the auto body course at WNC beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. Still pending is a decision the board has to make on the direction of the auto body course.

Concerns have been raised ever since Carson High announced it planned to offer a manufacturing program, but in the process drop its auto body collision program offered on campus. Since then, CHS has come up with a plan to offer auto body collision at the WNC campus, but offering the course at night doesn’t appear to be an option based on feedback at Tuesday’s meeting. “This is not a solution to this,” said board member Ryan Green about night courses.

CHS auto body collision teacher Lance Godec said he took a poll of his students and reported 80 percent polled responded they were willing — but unable — to take classes at night at WNC.

Transportation is one reason why students possibly couldn’t take the course at WNC. Carson City Schools assistant superintendent Susan Keema said the district would evaluate transportation needs. But other factors preventing students from taking classes at night include having jobs, homework and extracurricular activities.

“I think its pretty clear any kind of night-time classes for these students will be off the table,” Godec said.

WNC Career and Technical Education Director Georgia White said as she did at a previous board meeting it’s possible the school could have a professor available to teach classes during the day.

Michele Lewis, CHS Career and Technical Education Director, laid out an auto body collision curriculum for grades 9 through 12 at CHS.

Lewis said the curriculum would be a modified jump start program and students who completed the program could earn up to 12 college credits in auto body collision and 12 college credits in other academic areas by the end of their senior year. Lewis also said the curriculum would be available to Carson and Pioneer High students.

But Godec and others expressed a concern not all 140 students at CHS who are now in auto body collision at CHS would be served by the WNC program.

While also said WNC is working to provide certification now used by Northern Nevada auto body shops when hiring employees. She added one WNC instruction is “gold” certified in providing the instruction needed for certification used by Northern Nevada auto body shops.

White said by the end of their senior years, CHS students could receive refurbishing pro level 1 certification and collision pro level 1 certification used by Northern Nevada auto body shops through the WNC program with the chance to continue their postsecondary education and earning pro level II and III certification.

Keema said CHS currently doesn’t offer certification that would be offered through the WNC program.

Keema also said CHS is beginning to take registration for an auto tech jump start college program through WNC to begin in the fall. Lewis said two students are currently in a pilot auto tech program at WNC and are on track to become ASE certified in auto repair.

But Green expressed a concern after the auto tech program was dropped at CHS after the 2013-2014 school year, nothing took its place on the same scale this year and he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to the auto body collision repair program.