Dexter

TCC forges partnership with Dexter, Westwood Baptist
Posted on 01/28/2020
Dexter visits the TCC.

The Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center has expanded its service area to include Dexter High School and Westwood Baptist Academy, increasing its area sending schools to nine, in addition to PBHS. 

Both new schools toured the programming this month, bringing the total number of applications from sending schools to around 75 thus far. The deadline for upperclassmen and adult students to apply to attend the TCC is Thursday, March 6. Last year there were 248 first-time applicants, counting Poplar Bluff. 

The Missouri State Board of Education approved Dexter R-XI’s sending assignment on Thursday, Jan. 9, during its monthly meeting in Jefferson City, reporting that the school board submitted a request to change affiliation from the Sikeston Career and Technology Center to the TCC. Meanwhile a non-consortium agreement was reached locally with Westwood Baptist. 

"The more cost-sharing we do with more groups, the more apt our programs will be to thrive,” said Charles Kinsey, TCC director. “Our mission is to bring excellence to each of our programs, and serve as many students as possible.” 

The TCC is among 54 career and technical education centers in Missouri designated as host schools within its geological region. In exchange for operating the facilities and paying teacher salaries, annual agreements to collect tuition are established with sending schools, explained Kinsey. Other long-term partners include East Carter, Greenville, Puxico, Southern Reynolds, Twin Rivers, Van Buren and Zalma. 

Classroom equipment is updated in cycles through matching enhancement grants and federal Perkins money in order to meet industry standards. Some recent program improvements, according to Kinsey, include doubling the automotive lifts in auto mechanics; adopting I-Car curriculum in auto repair and ProStart in culinary arts; upgrading to St. Louis Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Program textbooks in building trades; introducing a crossover barbering class as an enrichment to cosmetology; and adding a weighted AP component to the new computer science program.

“We as a district have to have a constant conversation about expanding and improving our programming,” Kinsey explained. “We want to be ready for the next wave of careers as well as prepare our workforce to service the needs of our community today.” 

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Cutline: TCC Director Charles Kinsey hosts a group of Dexter students on Friday, Jan. 10, answering questions following a building tour. Westwood Baptist later visited the trade school on Thursday, Jan. 23.

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