Rick's Blog

Blame Malcolm Thomas for lack of local aviation mechanics

Rick Outzen

Six years ago, FloridaWest, the City of Pensacola, Escambia County, and the state of Florida knew that we needed to provide 1,200-1,500 workers for ST Aerospace and the MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) campus that the city, county, and state were building at the Pensacola International Airport. They needed the public school system to provide a steady stream of trainees, but Superintendent Malcolm Thomas refused to help.

In April 2018, Triumph Gulf Coast award the Escambia County School District $2.7 million grant for workforce development, but Superintendent Thomas refused to sign the agreement. He balked at performance goals because he would have had to refund part of the funds if he failed to meet them.

The grant was part of a much larger workforce development grant that would have provided aviation mechanics for ST Aerospace who had begun operations at the Pensacola International Airport in June 2018:

Triumph Gulf Coast wanted to give the school district $2.3 million for the program, which would be matched with not less than $425,000 in cash or in-kind from the district. Pensacola State College would contribute not less than $2,697,840 in cash or in-kind toward the project, and a DEO Job Growth Grant would give $1,860,510 in cash. The total budget for the program was $4,983,710.

Then-Triumph chair Don Gaetz was stunned that Thomas wouldn’t accept the three-year metrics that other school districts had accepted. Wakulla County and Franklin County school districts received grants for $3.9 million and $2.3 million, respectively.

In April 2009, Thomas made a counteroffer, which the Triumph board accepted:

One of the following performance metrics would have to be met:

(1) for the 2022-2023 school year, there shall have been issued

a. at least 280 elementary and secondary certificates (K-5 IT certificates, Middle School IT certificates, High School Aircraft Assembly certificates, High School Manufacturing Skill Standards Council certificates, and High School cybersecurity-related CAPE Industry certificates); and

b. 35 Post- Secondary Airframe and Powerplant certificates, 21 PostSecondary cybersecurity-related CAPE Industry certificates, and 17 Post- Secondary Commercial Truck Driver certificates (many participants will begin certification preparation while in high school);

OR

(2) that between the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year and the end of the 2022-2023 school year, at least seventy percent (70%) of those enrolled in a high school or postsecondary certification program (Cybersecurity/IT, Aviation, Advanced Manufacturing, and Commercial Truck Driving) who attempt a certification exam actually obtain a certificate;

OR

(3) based on State of Florida datasets on wages paid to individuals (adjusted for regional cost of living differences) between the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year and the end of the 2023-2024 school year with respect to those students that have graduated from the postsecondary program and for whom employment wage data is available from the State of Florida, one year after certification, or within three (3) months after data becomes available with the Department of Education, at least one-half of the students, shall have wages (appropriately identified) equal to or greater than the average entry-level wage for that occupation in this geographic area as identified by CareerSource Florida or a similar source approved for this purpose by Triumph.

Still Thomas refused to sign the agreement. He told the PNJ: “Honestly, I’d prefer to do it myself.”

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