PORT ANGELES — A new cosmetology school run by the Port Angeles School District will open in January and will be available to students in the North Olympic Peninsula’s 10 high schools.
The Port Angeles School Board voted 4-1 Thursday to end its contracts with two private Port Angeles cosmetology schools — The Hair School and Belle’s Academy of Hair and Nails — and open its own cosmetology program on the North Olympic Skills Center campus on West Eighth Street.
Board member Patty Happe cast the lone vote against the plan because of the short timeline and lack of communication with the students, 19 at The Hair School and a handful at Belle’s Academy, as to what they will be offered.
“I want a plan out there in place. I can’t support it,” Happe said.
All skills center students at both Port Angeles hair schools will be required to transfer to the new district school by Jan. 27 to retain their district funding.
The district’s contract with Pacific Northwest Hair Academy in Port Hadlock will remain in place until the district can find an alternate plan for students who live in Jefferson County, board members said.
The board directed Superintendent Jane Pryne to create a full written plan for the board’s approval in December.
Several of the 30 supporters of The Hair School at Thursday’s meeting broke into tears at the board’s decision and cheered half-heartedly for the one vote against the move.
About 15 speakers pleaded with the board to allow current students at The Hair School to finish at that school.
Board President Lonnie Linn said the district is working with Olympia College to offer credits to students who graduate from high school but want to continue their cosmetology training with the skills center.
“I promise you, it will be a top-notch program,” Linn said.
Board member Sarah Methner said she agreed with Happe that more planning should be in place but that wasn’t enough to vote against it.
The district already has an annual cosmetology school budget of $108,000, said district Finance Director Kelly Pearson, and start-up costs for a new school will need to be added.
That budget now is almost entirely paid to private contract schools, Pearson said.
Linn and board member Steve Baxter both said the concept of a district-run cosmetology school has been in the works for more than five years.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.