BLINN BOARD MOVES TO DEVELOP PARTNERSHIP WITH SEALY ISD TO RELOCATE SEALY CAMPUS PROGRAMS
Blinn College will explore options to provide courses at Sealy ISD as it plans to end its lease at its current campus location in the city.
The Blinn Board of Trustees moved unanimously today (Tuesday) to proceed with the negotiation and execution of agreements to partner with Sealy ISD and offer in-person courses at school district facilities. With the agreement, the College plans to continue providing all of its current Sealy campus programs and activities.
The College is looking to move from its existing space at a retail center off of I-10; the lease for the facility ends in August 2023. Over the past ten years, campus enrollment has declined from 186 students in 2011 to 43 in this fall semester.
Chancellor Dr. Mary Hensley and other trustees made it clear during the meeting that Blinn remains devoted to Sealy.
Executive Vice Chancellor Leighton Schubert said initial discussions have begun with Sealy ISD to see what a facility partnership would look like. He explained that specific wording and definitions are required by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) depending on which option Blinn chooses.
If Blinn were to shift to Sealy High School, which is considered an approved site since it already teaches dual credit courses there, the College would be required to “close” the existing Sealy Campus and create a teach-out plan in order to offer courses for the community at the high school. Schubert said the teach-out plan would be a redeployment of staff and faculty and would basically take what Blinn is already doing and move it to the high school. Moving to any other facility would be considered a relocation and not a “closure”.
The agenda item considered by the board called for closure of the Sealy Campus and the termination of the current facility lease. However, the board opted to hold off on that portion of the item, with Trustee Doug Borchardt saying the College needs to work further with Sealy ISD to determine what accommodations could be offered. Trustee Dr. Dennis Crowson agreed, saying more details are needed before further action is taken.
Schubert cautioned the board that some options it may wish to pursue take more time to complete and become harder the longer it waits, hence why the item was presented to trustees nearly a year before the campus lease expires.
Two full-time and three part-time faculty members, along with two full-time staff members, work at the Sealy Campus. Dr. Hensley said no faculty or staff will be terminated in this process and that the College will find another location for them, likely still in Sealy but possibly elsewhere.
Also at today’s meeting, the board received a report regarding the redistricting of Blinn Board of Trustees precincts in response to the 2020 U.S. Census data. Historically, the College has adopted Washington County Commissioner precinct lines for its own precincts. Final action on the new precinct maps is planned for the board’s November 15th meeting.
In other action, trustees authorized the College to negotiate and execute a contract for engineering services and to seek competitive sealed proposals for the expansion of Parking Lot K near the Doyle Coatney Center on the Brenham Campus.