Tri Star eyeing new single-site complex

CELINA - An offhand joke about moving the Tri Star Career Compact to Montezuma has turned into a serious effort to consolidate all the school's programs in a new building at Wright State University's Lake Campus.

Celina Superintendent Jesse Steiner said at a recent county superintendents' meeting he joked about moving Tri Star into Franklin School. The joke returned at a later meeting of the superintendents of the compact's nine districts.

"Then everyone sort of looked around and said: 'Hey, this is a good idea,' " he said.

The concept of moving Tri Star from its six current locations into one centralized site has solidified around a plan to build a state-of-the-art facility next to the Lake Campus. The superintendents of Coldwater, Celina, St. Marys, New Bremen, Fort Recovery, Marion Local, Minster, St. Henry and New Knoxville have all verbally supported the plan, Steiner said.
   Tri Star officials began contacting local business and economic development officials from Mercer and Auglaize counties to see if public support existed for the project. At Tuesday's Coldwater Exempted Village Schools Board of Education meeting, Tri Star Director Tim Buschur and Mercer County Economic Development Director Jared Ebbing gave their first presentation to a school board.

Buschur talked about limitations created by Tri Star's current facilities.

"We're trying to bring the program into the 21st century but most of our buildings are from the 1900s," he said. "When Tri Star first started in this area in the '80s, we were the cutting edge; but that's not necessarily the case anymore."

Buschur said Tri Star can no longer fulfill the needs of local businesses by providing them with properly trained workers.

Ebbing gave another perspective to board members.

"This is a community initiative; the schools just happen to be the vehicle," he said.

Ebbing said a new Tri Star building would be heavily influenced by the needs of local businesses as well as the degrees offered at Wright State.

The board took no action but all members verbally supported the initiative.

"These are two forward-looking guys doing what the district needs. This would be a positive move for the community at large. We don't have a lot of information yet, but school districts should all be in favor of this," board member Todd Bills said.

Businesses were also quick to respond that the project was exactly what the area needs, Ebbing said in an earlier meeting with the newspaper.

"This initiative is very much business-driven," Ebbing said. "We are in the process now of meeting with local businesses, seeing what they need in their workforce and letting them know what we already offer."

"Everyone we have talked to - the businesses, the schools, the university - they think this is exactly what we need," Buschur said.

Tri Star offers programs necessary for high-demand jobs, such as agricultural mechanics, automotive technology, precision machining and career-based intervention but the program's small and dated facilities have limited the ability to expand, Buschur said.

"We currently have a great program but we can enhance what we already have and add what we need," Ebbing said. "With the economy drastically changing, there are new demands in the job market that need to be met in order for our local economy to flourish."

Businesses focus on population trends when picking a site for development or expansion, Ebbing said. If students feel no local job opportunities exist and leave the area, he said, the population declines and businesses begin to leave. Without a well-trained workforce, the area's future is in danger, he said.

Ebbing described "Tri Star 2.0" as a pre-emptive move to prevent this from happening locally. He called the plan a win-win scenario for local students and businesses.

With local businesses' input, Tri Star would teach students in-demand skills and students would begin their careers with the knowledge they need to succeed. In addition, the collaboration with Wright State would help students earn college credit while taking Tri Star classes and allow the organizations to share facilities or equipment, Steiner explained.

Ebbing believes the new facility could increase Tri Star's enrollment by 30 percent.

"With the facilities we have now, we can't really sell the sizzle. If we get state-of-the-art facilities, we'll have more kids going for Tri Star," he said.

The compact has about 400 students, Buschur said, with 30 more on waiting lists for programs.

Steiner emphasized the new facility would not change how Tri Star operates in a significant way, except for one.

"Down the road, since it would be in Celina's district, we would assume responsibility of the facility," Steiner said. However, he stressed that all nine districts would continue to help pay for expenses.

"The cost would be split nine ways and that split is determined in part by enrollment numbers and school size," Buschur said.

Financial details for the construction are still undetermined, Steiner said. The current timeline has Ebbing and Buschur continuing to meet with school boards and businesses to garner support. Once more specifics fall into place, officials will begin looking into financial options.

"I'm involved in a lot of exciting development projects but nothing like this," Ebbing said. "To say this is the most exciting economic development project in the next 10 years is an understatement."

Currently in its 32nd year, Tri Star operates at the Celina Education Complex, Celina High School, the Franklin Building in Montezuma, Coldwater High School, the Frank Dennings Vocational Building in St. Marys and St. Marys Memorial High School. It offers 16 programs to junior and senior high school students.