The plan to build a career and technical education center in Macomb won’t be affected by the leadership change coming to Spoon River College, according to Macomb School Superintendent Patrick Twomey.
SRC President Curt Oldfield will leave at the end of June to become president of Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield. Twomey said Lincoln Land will allow Oldfield to consult on the CTE project until it’s finished.
Twomey also said a couple SRC board members have assured him the CTE center remains a priority, and that the center will be brought up in interviews during the presidential search process.
“Whoever’s coming on-board will only come on-board if they support this project. This is Spoon River’s number one project as well as the Macomb School District and the other school districts in the county,” Twomey said.
The other districts are Bushnell-Prairie City School District 170 and West Prairie School District 103.
Twomey said the partners still have not settled on a location for the center, but he expects a decision fairly soon.
“Our goal is to put together a system that benefits everybody,” he said.
One site under consideration is next to SRC’s Macomb campus. The other is on the Macomb High School campus.
Twomey continues to push for the MHS site, but he said that might not be possible because a transmission line goes through the one location where the center could be built.
He will talk to Ameren about whether it’s possible to move the line without great expense. If not, the SRC location will be the only option for the project.
SRC has applied for two state grants for the project. One is for $6 million. The other is for $3 million.
Tri States Public Radio produced this story. TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.
