More than four years of construction on the Carroll County Career and Technology Center is nearing completion. The project, expected to be completed before the start of the new school year next week, is expected to cost about $74 million.
About $34 million of the project's cost was paid for by Carroll County and the state contributed about $40 million, according to the system's fiscal year 2024 capital budget. The project was not included in the fiscal year 2025 capital budget.
The project will add 108,205 square feet of space to the facility that opened in 1971. The center was designed to accommodate 380 students in 19 programs and currently educates about 800 students in 24 programs each semester.
Classes at the center continued during construction, according to a report presented to the county school board earlier this month.
School board member Donna Sivigny said the four-year, phased project is especially difficult.
“Career and Technology is a four-year project that will be carried out in phases, and it's been one of the most challenging projects we've ever taken on as a group,” said Jim Marks, the system's construction superintendent, “but we've done a fantastic job.”
Superintendent Cynthia McCabe said in February that while the renovations would improve the quality of existing programs, they would do little to increase the school's capacity.
“With this renovation, with this major addition that we've done, we can't accommodate any more students in the program,” McCabe said in February. “What we've done is bring the program up to spec.”
Completing construction on the Career and Technology Center is worth celebrating, Sivigny said.
“This is truly a historic moment in my career and in my technology,” Sivigny said. “It's four long years in the making and it's all coming together.”
First published: August 26, 2024, 5:34 PM
