Though the Franklin County Career and Technical Center in Chambersburg, Pa., cost a lot more to build, served a much smaller community and took a lot longer to build than originally imagined, the result was a vocational and technical school that has graduated thousands of skilled workers over its 41 years. Not only that, but 98 percent of them have been able to remain in the area after graduation because they had the skills that local employers needed.
The idea of a vocational-technical school for Franklin County was first suggested as part of a statewide plan for such schools. At that time, it was envisioned that one school could serve students in Franklin, Adams, Fulton, and part of Cumberland counties.
The idea was kicked around for a couple of years until a group of people from the business, agricultural and education communities formed in 1963 to start looking at how to make the idea a reality. Gradually, the school’s district shrunk until it became Franklin County and the Shippensburg area of Cumberland County.
Industries and businesses in the proposed area were sent 1,680 surveys to determine what skills students needed to have to be employable and what business areas were most in need of workers. About 80 percent of the surveys were returned and that information along with the results of a student interest survey were reviewed by the committee to come up with 22 proposed courses of study.
The proposed school was presented to the school boards in 23 different school districts in two counties for their review. In March of 1964, 108 directors from those boards met in a special meeting to decide on whether or not building a new vo-tech school was a feasible idea.
Clair Fitz, area coordinator of industrial education at Penn State, spoke to the directors about the opportunities a vo-tech school would present. “Saying vocational-technical schools provide sound terminal education for those pupils not planning to continue into college, Fitz added that skills learned in these schools give pupils ‘something to sell’ when they enter the labor market following completion of their schooling. The new skills; he continued, will give the county a better and higher labor market and generally bolster the county’s economy,” reported The Public Opinion.
After two hours of discussion, the vote was unanimous to submit an application for a new school to the state. George Fries, who was a member of the committee, called the vote, “a fine, progressive step forward.”
At this point, it was believed that the school could open in 1966 at the latest and cost $1.2 million to build. The Pennsylvania Department of Education gave the project its go ahead and the search began for a site where the school could be built.
Eventually, 108 acres were purchased in Guilford Springs, but construction issues, including how to get adequate water to the site, delayed the project and increased the costs. Construction began mid-1968.
The school partially opened in the fall of 1969 with 14 areas of study. Another seven areas were added the next semester. The total cost of construction came in at $4.2 million.
“That $4.2 million will pay for a sprawling modern building that features the latest in automotive repair shops, a practical nursing suite, and even a temperature controlled hothouse for agriculture students,” reported The Public Opinion.
Initial enrollment in the school was 227 students from the six participating school districts of Chambersburg, Fannett-Metal, Greencastle-Antrim, Shippensburg, Tuscarora, and Waynesboro. The students attended the vo-tech center for three weeks to train in their skill areas and then their home schools for three weeks to complete their general educational requirements.
The Franklin County Area Vocational-Technical School was formally dedicated on April 19, 1970. In his dedicatory remarks, Superintendent James Gibboney said, “A vocational-technical education will help our youth to cultivate the ability to construct their own environment and to create their own destiny. Through your united efforts, you have placed a monument here. Not a monument of brick and stone and steel, but a monument to the living, to the minds of men.”
Though the name has changed to the Franklin County Career and Technology Center, the school still remains a monument that grows and adapts to provide the county with a skilled labor force.
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