For the past several years, one of the major topics of discussion has been whether or not Clinton County is ready for or can afford a Career Tech Center.
Thursday morning during the Clinton County Commissioners meeting at the Clinton County Courthouse, officials from the Community Schools of Frankfort and Ivy Tech Community College gave the Commissioners an update on the project as well as a lot of new hope.
“As Dr. (Matt) Rhoda said it’s almost too good to be true on how it’s coming together,” said Commissioners President Jordan Brewer. “So, we’ll see how it plays out. But I think it’s a great utilization of the building. Ivy Tech was at a point and (Ivy Tech Chancellor) Dr. (Aaron) Baute mentioned where they’ve shifted to less in person classes to more online and it’s impossible to get people to attend. So, their financial situation just wasn’t cutting the mustard for them to stay in Clinton County as is.”
Originally, it was hoped that all four Clinton County schools w0uld come together to help fund the project. However, that didn’t happen. Plus the search for possible sites and buildings started to wane.
But Thursday’s proposal by the group changed that significantly.
“We will still as a co-op decide how we’ll move forward,” said Community Schools of Frankfort Superintendent Dr. Matt Rhoda. “We brought this up at our last Wildcat Creek Co-Op that this is a possibility that we could move into the Ivy Tech building. We will decide as a co-op, and the other schools will decide, if this will move forward and everybody will contribute.”
Rhoda said the operational cost of the building plus a secretary would be around $150,000 a year. He said Ivy Tech will take care of the cost until December 2026 when Frankfort will take over the cost. Rhoda added they will go into the building next year when they have all of their CTE classes.
According to CTE Director of Wildcat Creek Georgia Everett, those classes will be Nursing, Criminal Justice, Building Trades, Information Technology along with their Capstone or base-learning classes. In 2025-2026, Bio Tech and Advanced Manufacturing will be added to the mix.
Everett added she is very excited about this venture.
“I’ve been working with Ivy Tech a lot over the past couple of years just as an adjunct instructor myself” said Everett. “I’m looking forward to how we can better use that facility there so our students can find a place and feel comfortable there and hopefully continue their work with Ivy Tech,”
Rhoda said they have to start doing something when they get two to three years down the line.
“As we get closer to December 2027, we’ll be in conversations with the city and county on how that will look — whether or not we’ll be leasing that building from them as Ivy Tech has done or the possibility of ownership of that building. Those kind of things are up in the air. We’re excited that we could just have the building.”
Brewer added this is really boost to Ivy Tech.
“This really allows Ivy Tech to continue to grow their services because Wildcat Cooperative or Frankfort School System or however that winds up working out after 2026 will take on the operational expenses and Ivy Tech can stay,” said Brewer. “Many people in this community sat at many tables and had many conversations about how we continue to invest in our youth and the evolution of this Career Tech Center. What has come of it is the funding is just not able to be met for what is needed. But now we have this opportunity to provide hopefully the same or better services and not have to invest millions of dollars.”