Clearfield Job Corps program resumes normal operations, at least for now, after judge's ruling
After a week of tumult, students in the Clearfield Job Corps program have returned to their normal routines, at least for now.
'Because of the temporary restraining order, Job Corps centers are back to normal operations,' Emily Lawhead, director of communications for Management and Training Corp., said Friday. The private contractor runs the Clearfield program and others around the country.
Some students started questioning their future after the U.S. Department of Labor announced on May 29 that it would close 99 contractor-operated Job Corps locations around the country, including the Clearfield site. Job Corps, a federal program, provides vocational training to teens and young adults who come from low-income backgrounds, some of them battling homelessness.
But the National Job Corps Association, representing private Job Corps program operators like Management and Training Corp., sued in federal court to halt the action, leading to a restraining order on Wednesday to temporarily halt implementation of the Department of Labor plans.
In the days after the May 29 Department of Labor announcement, the numbers of students at the Clearfield program had dipped from 741 to 726, but Management and Training Corp. officials are trying to counter that. 'Staff are working to contact students who have left already and inviting them to come back,' Lawhead said.
Nevertheless, the federal judge's decision to grant the temporary restraining order is hardly the final word. A full hearing on the issue is set for June 17. The National Job Corps Association filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Students from the Clearfield program had expressed alarm and dismay after the initial Department of Labor announcement, which had called for all contractor-operated Job Corps programs to stop operating by June 30. Students were initially to have vacated the Clearfield site by June 13.
'Job Corps is one of the most impactful and long-standing workforce development initiatives in our nation's history. Over the past 60 years, it has provided millions of young Americans with education, career training and the support they need to become self-sufficient, taxpaying members of society,' Management and Training Corp. said in a statement.
In announcing moves to halt Job Corps, the U.S. Department of Labor said the program wasn't yielding sufficient results. It said the average student graduation rate in the program was 38.6% and that the average cost per student per year was $80,285.
The Management and Training Corp. statement, by contrast, offered a different take. The cost per enrollee is comparable to community colleges when factoring the Job Corps' 'wraparound services.' Graduation rates, meantime, exceed the national average for two-year colleges, it said.
'In fact, for more than six decades, Job Corps has saved taxpayers millions by reducing dependence on public assistance and helping young people enter high-demand, high-wage careers,' reads the statement.
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