At a recent meeting, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors made their final decision on a request for tuition assistance from a Breda resident attending school to become a paramedic. Board members took a couple of weeks to consider the estimated $7,200 cost to cover the next three semesters for Scott Stork, who is currently enrolled at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. The supervisors were all leery of setting a precedent, and many received comments from the general public on the subject. This included Chair, Neil Bock.
Gene Meiners and Stephanie Hausman say they too had conversations or received correspondence from residents that were not in favor of the county moving in the direction of education funding. Dean Schettler says this is a very unfortunate situation.
Meiners adds that after hearing from Carroll County Ambulance Services Director, Darrell Baker, about a low average passing rate on state tests to become a paramedic and on the high attrition rate over the first five years, that the lack of guarantees on getting a 10-year commitment made it a difficult premise to justify. Rich Ruggles points out that though this is the right thing for the board to do at this point in time, they may be forced to change their position in the future.
Bock says he wants it to be made clear to Stork that this decision was solely a policy one and not made on a personal level.
