Sixteen community members will meet regularly as the Committee for Re-Envisioning CTE in Harrisonburg to formulate a plan going forward for Harrisonburg Schools to offer CTE courses.
The committee, which includes Harrisonburg Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael Richards, is necessary after the school system withdrew from a 56-year-old agreement with Rockingham County Schools to offer students in both districts CTE courses at the Massanutten Technical Center (MTC).
The plan for Harrisonburg students is that the committee will determine which CTE courses are of interest and local partnerships to offer the courses in space that already exist. When necessary, Richards said, the city school system will develop its own space for individual courses.
“One of the things that I think is beautiful about MTC is the camaraderie of the students and working with their peers, so we would work in that direction ourselves. I don’t think a hybrid model has to lose that,” Richards said.
After a new agreement could not be reached, Harrisonburg Schools chose to withdraw from the partnership, but will continue to partner with the county school system on other programs and projects.
ICYMI: MTC News
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Richards said he hopes the city school system can reconnect with the county school system in the future on a CTE program.
In the meantime, Harrisonburg 11th-grade and 12th-grade students currently enrolled at MTC will finish their one-year and two-year coursework before city schools withdraw from MTC in 2027. Richards said that a survey will be sent to potential new students for CTE courses.
“Surveying young people is a challenge,” he said.
But the city school system wants to find out what students want and need in regards to future career opportunities. Students will be encouraged to enter MTC for 2026 and begin coursework for one year “and we are going to receive you on the other end of that year and put you in the new program,” Richards said.
“I think we will have programs that they’ll be able to go into,” he said.
The committee is open to determining which courses Harrisonburg Schools will offer with CTE and then working with local community partners to provide them. In October, the committee will share recommendations with Harrisonburg School Board.
While sad to no longer partner with the county school system, Richards said he is excited for the possibilities that a hybrid approach to CTE will offer the city’s students in the future. The school system will not be closed in by offering courses in a single building. The goal is for students with shared interests to share space toward earning certification in a CTE course. The city school system has an opportunity now to think outside the box about CTE offerings and to offer more courses if student interest exists.
An adult education program offered at MTC will also continue as an option, according to Richards, who said the school system believes the program is “very important.” For example, English Language Learning can probably be handled by the school system within its own walls.
Transportation will be provided by the city school system if students are given opportunities to pursue CTE courses outside the city such as at Blue Ridge Community College.
Funding remains available for the city school system’s CTE program with the annual $1.8 million that was budgeted for MTC participation. The school system had also budgeted a potential $5 million that was to go toward renovations at MTC. One of the reasons for the city school system’s departure from the partnership with the county school system is that the MTC Executive Board was working toward wanting to construct a new MTC building. Harrisonburg Schools was not on board for a new building after having just finished Rocktown High School.
According to Richards, Harrisonburg Schools will continue to partner with Rockingham County Schools on the Regional Governors School, the Blue Ridge Pathways Consortium, the school system calendars, transportation and aiding homeless students.
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Rebecca Barnabi
