Copiah-Lincoln Community College Board of Trustees discussedoptions after being told the school’s Upward Bound program will notbe funded again this year.

The program, which has been in place 28 years and serves almost100 children every summer, was not re-funded by the Department ofEducation, and Co-Lin President Dr. Howell Garner said he thoughtit was a possibility there was a different ranking scale in place.The school plans to appeal the decision.

The program usually is funded by a $300,000 grant which providesfor three full-time employees, one part-time employee, and somepart-time summer workers.

“This was a great program for our area in assistingunderprivileged young people in our community,” said Garner. “Theloss here is not in the money provided to do the program, but whatthe program does for the community.”

Garner said Hinds Community College lost their funding lastyear, but that they were funded this year. He said the process doesnot actually involve deciding on each school individually, but thatthere is a ranking process in place.

“They don’t tell you ‘We’re not going to fund you,’ they say,’You don’t rank high enough to qualify for funding,'” he said.

Garner said there were other Upward Bound programs in the statelarger than Copiah-Lincoln’s that were not funded as well.

“There must be a completely different process in reviewing,because this is a pretty significant change,” he said.

The board also discussed the proposed Stone Stadium renovations,parts of which are on hold because bids came in that well exceededthe money budgeted for the renovations. The restroom project, whichspawned the idea of further renovations in the first place, isstill under way.

Garner said the architects had advised that the restrooms, whichdouble the capacity of the current restrooms, be built so they willblend in with the new Stone Stadium project whenever it can getunder way.

He said the project was to be paid for in anticipation of countyimprovement funds which will total $550,000 and will come in thisspring. He said the bids came in starting around $750,000.

“I did not feel it was prudent to spend that money on thisproject at this time,” he said. “I worked hard to find a way to doit, but it’s just not doable. You can’t just do it because you wantto, you have to have the money available.”

The board was also updated on the Smith Hall renovation.Demolition work is 95 percent complete, and things are on schedule,school officials said.

Garner said there was one snag when a sudden shower hit thefacility while construction crews had the roof off. He said thedamage was substantial, but the contractor has agreed to reimbursethe school.

“There was considerable internal damage to the carpets, etcetera. when the rain came in and some equipment was lost,” hesaid. “It was unfortunate and sudden, and it shouldn’t happen, butthe contractor has assured us they will make good on it.”

The board announced that Co-Lin will open bids on weightequipment on July 6 for the new weight room.

“We need to go ahead and get it ordered so we can get it in thefacility as soon as possible,” Garner said.