The computer and networking technology program will close at the end of the current school year, unless the Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center can find a qualified instructor by mid-April.

The tech center’s Joint Operating Committee agreed to end the program Monday following a year-and-a-half long search for an instructor.

Eric Palmer, GACTC executive director, said the school has “fallen short” in its efforts to hire a new teacher for the program, which is a comprehensive course focusing on computer system diagnostics, troubleshooting and server administration. The course allowed students to prepare for CompTIA Network+, Server+ and Security+ certification tests.

Currently, 31 students are enrolled in the program, which mainly features 10th, 11th and 12th grade participants.

Senior students enrolled in the program will be able to finish their studies by the end of the academic year. Juniors will be eligible to take the NOCTI exam, which is a trade school equivalent to the Keystone exams in computer science and will then return to their home schools to reassess their academic trajectory, officials said.

GACTC administrators received nine total applications, with four of those being quality candidates since the job search began. Unfortunately, none of the applicants possessed the PDE-required four years of industry experience necessary to teach the course, Palmer said.

Automotive instructional assistant Gavin Bice taught the program as a long-term substitute, but was unable to receive the higher-tier certification to take on the course full time.

“We’ll work on a plan for our ninth and tenth graders to either move programs or evaluate their options here,” Palmer said.

These students will have the option to transfer into a new program at GACTC, or return to their home school to use their course work at the GACTC as elective credits.

According to Palmer, there is no concern for the future of the computer programming course, since staffing levels there and throughout the rest of the school, are “stable.”

“Among 25 programs at GACTC, we only have one faculty vacancy, which is not too bad,” he said.

The GACTC shuttered another course, the interior design and finishing program, in January 2023 for reasons unrelated to school staffing. That decision came after a “very long” analysis of industry demand and student job placement levels by school administrators, which determined that it was best to close the program, Palmer said.

In other business, the committee approved the tentative collective bargaining agreement between the GACTC administration and the GACTC Education Association for a three-year term succeeding the current agreement.

According to Palmer, the language of the agreement is being finalized by the GACTC solicitor, and will be voted on by the teachers union later this week.

This negotiation constituted a major rework of the agreement, which had remained unchanged since its adoption in 1998, he said.

The scope of the negotiations led to the process becoming “a little elongated,” Palmer said, but both parties were still able to reach an agreement on the modernized contract.

Specific details of the contract are currently unavailable until the agreement is finalized, according to Palmer.

The committee also entered into an agreement with Prism Response LLC to remove asbestos from the building for $68,752, and with Lofty Heights Tree Care for a suite of tree removal and maintenance projects throughout the GACTC campus for $11,100.

There is no set number of trees being removed nor is there a complete plan for the maintenance work, since school leadership will have to approve any recommendations before the actual work takes place.

“There is an assessment (Lofty Heights) did, and we’ll have to come and walk through one more time and make sure that we’re comfortable with what they’re doing,” Palmer said.