Take a peek at P-TECH Academy work Wednesday
Curious about how work is coming along on the P-TECH College and Career Academy? Now is your chance to take a first-hand look at everything.
Dunkirk City School District Superintendent Dr. James Tracy announced at a recent board of education meeting that a construction kick-off event will be Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the former School 6 building, 55 E. Benton St. The facility will house the P-TECH Academy once work is finished.
“We would just like to formalize the beginning of our construction process, even though it’s already started, and have a nice little public release on it and kind of invite anybody that’s interested in coming on down and seeing the before of the outside of the building,” P-TECH Director William Smock explained. “Because it is a construction zone that’s occupied by our construction folks, we’re not going to allow people into the building because of safety reasons. We will, however, have a section that you can kind of pop your head in and look around and see what’s going on.”
Various stakeholders have received invitations to attend the kick-off event, including local elected officials, involved school boards, Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES and Jamestown Community College officials, manufacturing partners and people involved with Dream It Do It and the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier.
Construction consists of renovating the existing structure, as well as adding a technology laboratory on the south side of the 1967 gymnasium and a cafeteria on the north side near Townsend Street.
The goal is to open the academy around Christmas, Tracy previously stated.
Pupils in the local P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) program currently learn at the BOCES LoGuidice Center in Pomfret. The eventual move from there to the academy will alleviate space concerns as the program expands and accumulates cohorts of students.
The interior demolition phase of the project consisted of asbestos abatement and a total gutting of School 6, which closed in 1997.
P-TECH aims to give students a free college-level education in mechanical technology or welding over the course of a six-year curriculum. Eligible students must be entering their freshman year of high school, must be at risk for not completing high school and/or college in the traditional environment (e.g. a grade behind schedule) and must reside in one of the Erie 2 BOCES component school districts. Completion of the program equates to graduating with a state Regents diploma and an associate degree from JCC.
Many private manufacturers have partnered with the public academy to ensure a much-needed, high-skilled labor pool down the line.
The local area landed a key $2.8 million, six-year P-TECH state grant in 2014. That grant instituted the P-TECH program, with the inaugural cohort of students starting during the 2015-16 school year. Dunkirk served as the lead agency for the grant, with BOCES as the implementation agency.
There is no need to RSVP to the kick-off event. Appropriate footwear is recommended, as the grounds could be muddy.
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