Feds: Kings Point academy loses GMATS program

A continuing education school operating at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point will be closed, but the curriculum may be digitized for use at other institutions, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told members of Congress Tuesday.

LaHood met in Washington with members of the service academy's Board of Visitors. Long Island Reps. Peter King (R-Seaford), Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) and Gary Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights) attended the meeting.

The July closure of the Global Maritime and Transportation School, a continuing education program called GMATS, was part of the group's discussion.

"Basically, as far as GMATS, [LaHood] . . . made it clear it's going to close," King said.

LaHood said arrangements could be made to share its curriculum, King said. But it wouldn't be free, Ackerman said.

The Department of Transportation, which oversees the school, decided in December to close the program because it served a fraction of academy students and had been one of several self-funded operations on campus that a 2009 Government Accountability Office report identified as having questionable accounting.

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island) last week sent a letter to the Maritime Administration asking for the class lessons and equipment from GMATS to be transferred to the Seaman's Institute at Snug Harbor in his district. Grimm could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Meghan Keck, the Transportation Department's deputy director of public affairs, said LaHood also updated members of Congress on the academy budget, recent campus facility improvements and the status of a strategic plan.