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The Licensed Practical Nursing program at the Goerge Washington Carver-Piedmont Technical Education Center in Culpeper may close next year due to continuing financial problems, said school director John Toth in an interview last Thursday.
If additional sources of funds are not found immediately, the school, which trains high school students and adults from a seven county area, will not be able to start a fall class. The regional board that manages the school has promised to fund current students until their graduation next year.
The 40-year-old nursing program offers specialized technical training to adults, as well as public high school credits to students from Rappahannock, Culpeper, Madison and Orange counties. Tuition-paying residents of Fauquier, Louisa and Greene counties may also participate in the program. Over the past five years, three percent jof the nursing students came from Rappahannock. No county residents are currently enrolled.
State and federal funding has dropped nearly 80 percent, forcing county school budgets to make up the difference. Most of that money is now coming from the “K-12” budget, money allocated specifically for use in grades kindergarten through high school. Of the 32 students now in the program, only one is high school age. The others are adults whose tuition is being subsidized by the public schools.
The LPN program has long been considered the premier program at the center, with graduates excelling at both state and national levels. Since 1976, 100 percent of the graduates passed the state certification exams and found jobs. Numerous hospitals, doctors’ offices and nursing homes in the region employ LPNs. LPNs also serve as school nurses in Culpeper County. The majority are graduates of the Carver-Piedmont program.
According to Toth, “The LPN profession is coming back strong,” despite nationwide changes in the health care system. With a starting salary of about $22,000, salaries are comparable to many beginning teachers’ salaries. Toth estimated that “80 percent of the jobs in the future will be in the building trades and technical fields - skilled crafts and trades.”
But, even with these opportunities, the number of high school students enrolling has steadily declined over the past decade. Nursing program director Esther Frazier-Petty attributes this, in part, to poor academic preparation.
And “the state’s standards of accreditation have been and are getting even more strict,” added Toth. Students must pass a three-part entry examination before being accepted into the program.
See PIEDMONT, Page A6
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