Corbin School System may take over management of city’s tech center

The Corbin Technology Center is a technology center in name only. The Corbin Independent School System may be able to change that if talks with city commission on a management deal are successful.

At Thursday night’s board meeting, members approved a motion to move forward with talks to have the school system replace Eastern Kentucky University as the manager of the facility. Corbin Superintendent Ed McNeel said the motion was the result of several meetings between school system officials and city officials.

Sherry Trimble, Director of Technology at the school system, said the technology center does not have some of basic tenants of technology such as a computer classroom or white boards that have replaced the chalk boards in school classrooms across the country.

If the school system were to manage the facility, it has access to technology grants that could be used to add those features.
With that technology in place, Trimble said the center could be used for community technology classes such as application software found on most home computers, to give area senior citizens lessons in computer use and to allow individuals working toward a GED access to a computer.

Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said city officials put out feelers to find a new manager for the facility. While EKU has been managing the facility since 2003, Corbin City Manager Bill Ed Cannon said it has done so over the last three years without a contract.

"The board of education show some interest so we will be holding another meeting to see if a deal can be reached," McBurney said.

McBurney said the matter is unlike to be brought before the city commission at its December meeting but could be on the agenda for the Jan. 10 meeting.

While the school board will be responsible for the technology related programs, McBurney said the city will manage the scheduling of meetings and other events held at the facility.