The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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Worker retraining is expected to be a big part of the city’s response to the Tyson plant layoffs, and Emporia State University and Flint Hills Technical College have already discussed coordinating retraining efforts.

ESU President Michael Lane, Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and Student Life James Williams, and FHTC President Dean Hollenbeck met for about an hour and a half last Friday. Lane said the meeting involved figuring out which school would be handling what aspects of the retraining effort.

“In some areas, we’ll both do the same thing — resume, counseling and that kind of stuff,” Lane said. “But a lot of the retraining for the technical folks will clearly be done by Dean’s folks.

“We’ll do some management training if we have a need there from some of their supervisory people, and if we can identify a specific need, we’ll put together a program there.”

City Manager Matt Zimmerman put together a list of notes and action steps after last Friday’s community response meeting at FHTC. In addition to stating ESU’s and FHTC’s intent to investigate the availability of money for retraining, the list noted that the federal government offers grant money for retraining and regional planning. It said the city would determine if Emporia is eligible for any regional planning grants.

Hollenbeck said a number of Tyson workers were already looking at FHTC’s English as a second language classes and other programs already in place in the adult education center.

“And the first thing that will happen at the adult ed center is that they’re going to assess the skills that they have,” he said. “And then we have some programs that already, people can come in, they’re short-term, kind of a fast track, which is our CDL training, our truck driving. Of course, our new welding program is just kicking off, so we’ll be able to do that.”

But Lane and Hollenbeck both said the Tyson situation has to be sorted out before the two colleges can take much action on retraining. They need to know not only how many of the 1,500 laid-off Tyson employees will need retraining, but also what they’ll need to be trained for.

“There’s very little we can identify specifically until we get to a point where we know who’s being laid off, what their skill set is, what their needs are,” Lane said.

Another factor in determining the retraining process, Hollenbeck said, will be what kind of jobs are available. The job and community fair scheduled for Feb. 16 at FHTC will feature employers from both inside and outside the city.

“And frankly,” Lane said, “from what I’ve seen in the newspaper the last few days, I don’t really anticipate we’re going to see a huge amount of unemployment because of the large number of folks coming in from out of the area to hire people. I think most of our residents will determine that having a job is better, and we’ll work in that direction.”

Hollenbeck said most of the tuition costs of the retraining would be covered by Kansas Works, which will hold informational sessions Feb. 18-20 in the Anderson building at the Lyon County Fairgrounds. Presenters will explain available programs and benefits and help sign up tose eligible for them, according to Zimmerman’s action plan.