As the Lauderdale County School District prepares to enter the construction phase of its proposed, centralized Career and Technical Education Center, district administrators are seeking to gain support from the community for the project.

On Tuesday, Friends of the Lauderdale County School District will host an invitation-only leadership luncheon for local officials, business and industry owners, and community leaders to unveil the district’s vision for a revolutionary, high-quality CTE program that integrates resources from community college CTE programs and industry internships.

“It is going to have a generational impact,” Rob Smith, director of career and technical education for Lauderdale County schools, said of the future of Career and Technical Education. “I think it is going to turn the tide on workforce development in our county.”

In 2022, the state Legislature appropriated $8 million for Lauderdale County to construct a new CTE Center, located centrally among all four county school campuses. The center will be located in the former Peavey Service Warranty Building, located on U.S. Highway 11/80 in the industrial park.

The deconstruction phase of the building is complete with walls, wiring, air conditioning units all removed from the building.

“The whole inside has been stripped clean,” Smith said. “It’s basically a shell of a building now.”

The district hopes to bid out the renovation project later this fall with work expected to start early in the new year. Renovations to the building are not expected to be completed before early 2025 with district officials hoping to have the center operational in time for the 2025-2026 school year.

“Under our current model of education, real work career training only reaches 30-40% of our student population. Many academic classrooms just speak about it in theory,” Smith said. “The development of this new center will enable the Lauderdale County School District to reach 700 students more than our current capacity for specific, real world training.”

The 60,000-square-foot building will allow the district to bring most of its CTE training currently taking place at the four individual campuses to one central location, which will allow students in the county to participate in some programs that have only been at one campus in the past, Smith said. However, some established CTE programs will remain on their respective campuses, and all four high schools will continue to offer health sciences.

They also plan to expand their programs, offering several new CTE programs not offered in the past, such as Energy Academy, aviation technology, advanced manufacturing, ag power and machinery, and construction engineering technology, among others.

Smith said programs added to the center’s offerings will be based on current demand and future projections.

“We cannot be satisfied with offering generic programs that offer no relevance to local needs,” he said.

Having business and industry partnerships will be one of the keys to the center’s success because on-the-job training and apprenticeships will play a pivotal role in future CTE training, Smith said.

“Students will be able to walk out of our front door to internships and work-based learning scenarios,” he said.

High school and college relationships and collaboration are the key for future career and technical education programs, Smith said, which is why the district would like to work with area community colleges to align their program objectives and standards from 10th grade all the way through post secondary education.

When operational, the Lauderdale County CTE Center, combined with programs already offered at Ross Collins Career and Technical Center, will give local students the opportunity to explore any of the 13 Mississippi Career Pathways.

The center also will enable the school district to open up the career training to students not only from Lauderdale County’s four high schools but also from Meridian High School, local private schools and homeshool programs.

The LCSD CTE Center is expected to be a model for other school districts across the state when it is completed and operational in 2025 for its collaboration by educators, students, post-secondary partners and industry professionals.

“We are hoping this is going to be a model for other school districts across the state and throughout the Southeast,” Smith said.