Thirteen licensed practical nurses enrolled in a transition program at the Knox Technical Center had their fingerprints taken for required background checks, the Knox Educational Service Center reported. Gwen Smith, the ESC’s administrative secretary, usually fingerprints job applicants at the ESC office in Mount Vernon. She took the agency’s WebCheck equipment to the KTC site on Yauger Road so the nurses would not have to travel to the Woodward Opera House Annex.
The checks are among the requirements before candidates can sit for Ohio’s registered nurse licensing examination. WebCheck scans fingerprints and transmits them to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and the FBI, according to the report.
Cheryl Lies, an administrative assistant in the nursing program, said the participants are finishing a yearlong LPN-to-RN transition course that includes 900 hours of classroom, laboratory and clinical instruction. Students attended the Yauger Road facility three days a week.
Kimberly Brown, a Glenmont resident who works at Majora Lane senior living in Millersburg, said she balanced the program with raising a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. She hopes to work in a hospital after passing the exam.
KTC cited Ohio Means Jobs data from July 2025 showing 4,120 registered nurse openings within 75 miles of Mount Vernon. The ESC hires nearly 200 classroom aides and serves Centerburg, Danville, East Knox, Fredericktown, Mount Vernon and Knox County Career Center districts, while running preschool programs and the Knox Learning Center.