Turner International grant has not been released

Published or Revised May 26, 2010

An article in [i]The Paris News[/i] on the Paris Junior College Board of Regent's meeting of May 24, 2010, erroneously reported that a hold on a skills development grant to train workers in nuclear welding for Turner International had been released. The hold is still in place. There are two separate grants, one from the state that is on hold, and a locally controlled grant that is in the process of being awarded. Last month Paris Junior College was notified of a Texas Workforce Commission grant of $500,000 to train nuclear welders, to be shared by PJC and three other community colleges. PJC was to receive $250,000 of that amount. When that state agency was notified of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint at Turner in Paris, that grant was put on hold, pending resolution of the EEOC investigation. Due to the potential risk of job loss from a delay to the training program, the Paris Economic Development Corporation announced it would grant $250,000 to PJC so the training program could proceed. The agreement's paperwork is still being worked out, but because of the urgency PJC is going ahead with purchasing special training equipment for $28,000. This was part of the report PJC President Dr. Pamela Anglin presented to her board. She also informed the Regents that at a recent meeting with a Workforce Commission representative from Austin, she discussed the hold and the representative asked that PJC notify TWC when the EEOC provided a timeline to Turner International.