by P.D. Lesko
In 2012, WCC was awarded a federal grant totalling $2.99 million to implement a program under the auspices of which the college would recruit and train students for IT careers. A Dept. of Labor review dated Feb. 2015 cited the program for incomplete documentation and underreported cost expenses.
THE $2.99 MILLION Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training program (TAACCCT) grant awarded by the U.S. Dept. of Labor to Washtenaw Community College in Oct. 2012 was projected by college officials to result in 225 enrolled students with 194 of those enrollees having completed training and 174 trainees placed in jobs by Oct. 2016. A Feb. 2015 review by the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) of WCC’s use of its federal funding stated that “participant outcomes are currently below expected levels at this point in the grant process.” The report states that there was a “six month delay from the award date to the actual start of work.”
The DOL report also cited WCC for “incomplete case management files, low expenditure rates, no integration with trade program, not following internal policy, underreported leveraged resources and underreported indirect cost expenses.”
A DOL official stated that while all of the concerns identified in the report were problematic, the most serious ones were the low enrollment/zero completion finding as well as the amount of grant time elapsed versus the number of students served.
WCC Trustee David DeVarti, when asked about the DOL report and its findings, replied by email:
“I would very much like to see a copy of the DOL Review. I am going to forward your email to the President with a request for information about the program and a response to the DOL Review. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”
WCC President Dr. Rose Bellanca did not respond to a request for a comment about the DOL’s review and the findings.
According to the report prepared by the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL), between Oct. 2012 and Mar. 31, 2014, WCC’s Intentionally Growing New Information Technology Employees (IGNITE) program enrolled 55 students total and none of those students obtained any of the three entry-level IT certifications offered, entered employment or used the IGNITE training to keep the jobs they already had. The IGNITE program is staffed by WCC employees, headed by VP Michelle Mueller, listed in the DOL report as Dir. of Grants Management at the two-year college.
In response to a Sept. 2014 Freedom of Information Act request submitted to WCC to document the number of enrollees in the IGNITE program, WCC’s attorney Larry Barkoff sent a response in which IGNITE staff claimed the federally-financed program had enrolled a total of 137 students in 2013 and 2014. In addition, WCC officials stated that the IGNITE program had granted certification to a total of 80 students as of Sept. 2014.
The paper has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for WCC’s quarterly IGNITE program reports submitted to the DOL between Mar. 2014 and Mar. 2015.
Dr. Mueller is the Vice President of Economic, Community and College Development at Washtenaw Community College. In her LinkedIn profile, Dr. Mueller describes herself as “a leader, visionary and growth agent with over 29 years experience in community college administration. I am vivacious with an entrepreneurial spirit and possess strong interpersonal communication, organizational leadership, project planning, management and budgeting skills.”
Dr. Mueller’s 29 years of experience include working at St. Clair County Community College. At SCCC, Mueller was the Dean of Workforce Development and worked with Dr. Rose Bellanca, who was the President and CEO of SCCC prior to her appointment as president of WCC.
WCC’s four-year $2.99 million federal grant ends in Oct. 2016. As of the Mar. 31, 2014 DOL report, Dr. Mueller and her IGNITE program team had expended $778,316 (26 percent) of the total grant funding. IGNITE program budget documents provided to The Ann Arbor Independent by a WCC employee concerned about an alleged misuse of federal funds show that $293,817.60 of IGNITE grant funds were used to pay the salaries, benefits and pensions of the IGNITE program administrators, tech staff and faculty.
IGNITE PROGRAM budget documents dated Sept. 2014 show that between 2013 and 2014, $4,588.69 in grant money was used on vacation pay for administrative and tech staffers. Prior to the DOL’s 2015 on-site visit, all of those federal funds were repaid.
Between 2013-2014, $7,986.23 in federal funds from the IGNITE grant were spent on conference expenses for non-faculty, including a $1,500 hotel stay and airline tickets.
After its 2015 on-site visit, the DOL required WCC’s IGNITE program to produce a “spending plan with action steps and milestones, which permits a closer tracking of outlays.”
Likewise, DOL officials examined, at random, the records of 25 of the 55 enrollees in the IGNITE program and determined that WCC officials in charge of the program neglected to keep complete case management files. The report states that “reviewers determined…that the case notes lack content on each participant’s advancement through training and other service plan goals.” In several instances the supporting documentation provided by WCC officials to DOL reviewers was “the participant intake form.” This calls into question whether the 55 students whom WCC officials told DOL reviewers were enrolled in the IGNITE program did, in fact, receive instruction and if so for how long and toward which of the three introductory-level certifications.
A WCC faculty member with access to the IGNITE program’s enrollment data who asked to remain anonymous because he did not have permission to speak about the program, alleges that actual enrollment was below the 55 student number given to the DOL reviewers. Two other WCC employees with access to IGNITE program documents allege that the federal funds awarded have, thus far, primarily benefitted WCC administrators, faculty and tech staffers who are working on the program. The most recent DOL review did not find any misuse of federal funding, however.
The Dept. of Labor report stated that WCC officials told reviewers that “approximately 50 more participants are expected to be included in the next quarterly report.” WCC officials also told DOL reviewers that by Oct. 2016 the program would meet all of its goals.
Gregory Ozminkowski received IGNITE certification as a Microsoft Technology Associate in the summer of 2014. Reached by phone, Ozminkowski spoke about his experiences with the IGNITE program.
“The courses are accelerated. My MTA certification was a two-month, one-course certification, and there were about 15 other people in my class,” said Ozminkowski. “WCC officials encourage students to take the IT class—a four credit hour class—and to apply for certification.”
Greg Ozminkowski says he was told in 2014 by WCC officials that the IGNITE program which had a award date of Oct. 2012 was a “new program.”
Ozminkowski says the IGNITE program course helped him pass the entry-level Microsoft Technology Associate Exam.
In 2010, the Microsoft Learning team announced the Microsoft Technology Associate Certification as a new entry level certification. Designed specifically for students aspiring to become IT professionals and developers, the MTA certification is based on 80 percent knowledge and 20 percent skills. It is a certification meant to give students at the beginning of their IT training “confidence,” according to the Microsoft exam site description of the MTA. It is not described as a stand-alone certification which can help those who have it find or retain a job—the stated goals of the IGNITE program and its certification.
Microsoft offers dozens of proficiency exams, such as the level one MTA exam. Pearson Learning and Microsoft partner on offering the exams to students through online exam-taking at colleges and universities willing to pay a licensing fee to become a Certiport testing center. The Pearson MTA testing license, which is priced according to the size of the college, permits colleges, such as WCC, to offer the MTA exam to a maximum of 500 students.
WCC budget documents show that beginning in Nov. 2013 WCC’s IGNITE program expected to pay Pearson NCS $40,500 for testing and licensing fees. By Mar. 2014, IGNITE budget documents show $1,500 of that total had been allocated.
Anyone may take the 50 question MTA certification exam at any campus testing center or independently online, at the Pearson Vue test center. A score of 70 or above out of 100 is required to earn MTA certification. The cost to take introductory certification exams through the Pearson Vue online test center is $150, according to information from Pearson Learning.
Tuition for a four-credit hour class, such as the one Greg Ozminkowski took to prepare for his MTA exam at WCC is priced at $376-$908, depending on residency. Campuses which purchase site licenses to administer MTA exams are provided with a 20-lesson kit to use for instruction aimed at preparing students for the MTA exam.
According to WCC IGNITE program budget documents given to the newspaper, WCC used IGNITE grant funding to pay WCC full-time faculty and staff course development and licensing fees in excess of $31,000.
Greg Ozminkowski now works in IT, having landed an internship that led to a full-time job after he’d finished the IGNITE program and his studies at WCC.
“The certification didn’t get me my job. I don’t think there’s any direct correlation,” said Ozminkowski in answer to questions about the IGNITE program. “They did sent job leads.”
The 2012 roll-out of the federally-funded IGNITE program included “partnering” with Ann Arbor SPARK and the Washtenaw County Workforce Development Board.
In a Sept. 19, 2012 press release announcing the federal grant, Ann Arbor SPARK said that WCC was “partnering with Ann Arbor SPARK, and other workforce development partners. WCC will address the strong demand for skilled information technology professionals. Academic programs will be designed in two career areas specifically identified as high-demand by regional employers: software development for Java and network and systems administration in Microsoft and Linux/Unix platforms. The programs will be designed to meet the needs of the adult, non-traditional learner and will combine online and classroom instruction approaches.”
Dr. Michelle Mueller, identified in the SPARK press release as a V.P. of Economic Development, Community & Corporate Alliances at Washtenaw Community College said of the federal grant, “We look forward to continuing our collaborative relationship with SPARK in the development of workforce talent in Washtenaw County.”
Sounds like you may have come negatively pre-biased in your approach to writing this article. As a student enrolled in the IGNITE Program at WCC, I can honestly say I have never participated in a better program. From excellent faculty, to outstanding academic counselling and with the addition of exceptional learning support services, I doubt you could find a better program anywhere. In two years it is nearly impossible to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science as most entry level positions in this field prefer; nor is it easy to gain the amount of experience most postings require: IGNITE has given me both hope and prospect to re-enter the workforce after being laid off. While I can only attest to the past year with respect to my participation in the IGNITE program, as a part-time student who has found temporary employment, I can only say the best about it. I imagine it may have taken a little time to get such a well-run program with all it has to offer, rolling. Perhaps if you had obtained some hands-on experience with this program you would agree, and have a much more positive slant. Nobody can just read other’s reports and add anything to knowledge. As the IGNITE program attests to, while you might count on help from others, you have to actually do the bulk of the work yourself.
Sounds like you came fully pre-loaded with a negative bias in your approach on this report. As a student enrolled in IGNITE, I can say that I have not participated in a better retraining program anytime or anywhere else and, I doubt you could find one. From the excellent faculty, to the outstanding counselling, along with exceptional support services offered, the Ignite program has made me a better job candidate for any position, especially at entry level into Computer Science. It’s nearly impossible to earn a Bachelor’s degree in only two years, as most postings for an entry level position in this field prefer and maybe even more difficult to get the level of experience most postings require, but Ignite has given real hope and prospect to me for re-entry to the workforce since my layoff. Unfortunately, I can only attest to the past year of my participation in Ignite as a part-time student with temporary employment. I’ve got to imagine it took them a while to get such a well developed program rolling, but there is nothing but the best I can say about how this program is run and what it has to offer. Perhaps if you had gotten some hands on experience with it yourself, you might not have such a negative slant? Nobody can just read other’s reports and offer knowledge. As the IGNITE program attests to, perhaps you also have to do the work.
Why not report on the facts….
Interesting article. Don’t you think that you need to hire people to build the courses before they can enroll? Isn’t that what the first year of a grant is for?
@lyric, with respect to the MTA certification, the licensing fee includes a 20 class (60 hour) course already designed for faculty to use to prepare the students for certification.
You apparently don’t understand how USDOL evaluates federal grants. WCC had no major findings that were not in compliance with federal regulations and were not “cited” for anything! Areas of concern are continuous quality improvement suggestions. There was absolutely no impropriety as you infer. Get your facts straight and stop trying to sensationalize to sell papers.
@Patsy, the paper used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the original report which listed areas of concern. Then, an official from the DOL was interviewed about which of the areas of concern were deemed the most problematic. The article reflects clearly that WCC was not found to have misused funds, but rather to have not awarded any certifications after spending several hundred thousand dollars.
What is going on? Something seems quite off with this IGNITE program.I hope we can learn more about what WCC administration is up to. This Dr. Mueller sounds like she is making things sound better than they really are.