| Skills Center officials are optimistic they can reach minimum
enrollment 2005-01-14 by
RAUL VASQUEZ PORT ANGELES -- The North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center needs a big boost to its full-time student enrollment in the second semester to reach its minimum goal of 150 students for the entire school year. The state-funded Skills Center -- a vocational school designed for students ages 16 to 21 -- currently enrolls 135 full-time pupils, center director Clyde Rasmussen told the Port Angeles School Board this week. That figure falls short of the 180 students district planners had budgeted for the Skills Center before the start of the school year. According to an agreement with the state's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which funds the Skills Center based on how many students are enrolled, the skills center needs a minimum level of 150 full-time students to maintain its ``skills center'' status, said Jim Jones, executive director of business and operations for the Port Angeles School District. 150 enrollment mark School district officials said they are optimistic they'll break the 150 student mark this school year. ``With the extra classes that we are going to be adding this semester, we expect a big jump in the number of students,'' Jones said. ``We project that after figuring in the second semester's numbers, we'll get to the 150 level.'' Rasmussen said the Skills Center enjoyed a significant jump in student enrollment during last year's second semester, and he expects a similar trend this year. When asked what would happen if their projections don't pan out,
Rasmussen responded: ``I don't even want to think about it.''
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