MONROE COUNTY, W.Va. -Major improvements are headed toward Monroe County Schools with the help of more than $4,000,000 in grant funding.
The money was awarded by West Virginia’s School Building Authority.
With this new funding, Monroe County is now set to expand and renovate its Vocational Technical Center.
As of right now, with approximately 450 students at James Monroe High School, 85% of them are enrolled in vocational classes.
Offerings there include everything from nursing, carpentry, ROTC to agriculture and much more.
Local leaders say they see a need for a larger, and improved facility going forward.
“We’re going to extend on both ends of the building, renovate the spaces here within the building, and then do electrical upgrades and an additional set of restrooms,” said Joetta Basile, Superintendent of Monroe County Schools.
The CET Director and Director of Facilities continues with saying the VOTEC provides a range of opportunities for Monroe County Schools.
“Well, I think it’s truly about preparing the students for the next level of what they want to do. We have some students, they might take one class in nursing, and then they figure out, ‘no, this is maybe not what I want to do,’ and they try in agriculture or ROTC or business and some of them take a few classes of each program, but like I said, it’s based on the student’s interest, what they want to do, you know, post-graduation. So, it’s really preparing them for the future,” said Johnathan McPherson, CET Director and Director of Facilities.
Leaders within the Monroe County school system say the plan is to begin actual work on the project soon with a few years expected until completion.
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