Last week, the City of Plant City gave the green light for a new Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) vocational school to be built. The facility will sit on 16 acres near the corner of Park Road and East Park Road, west of, and adjacent to, the Plant City Stadium. The area is currently wooded and will need to be cleared, and the site is already being prepared by the civil contractor. The formal groundbreaking ceremony will be held in September 2024. The anticipated date for instruction to begin is August 2025.
The building will cover approximately 52,000 square feet. The interior floorplan centers on shops. Several classrooms will be attached to each of the five shops. The vocations that will be taught are Industrial Electricity, Welding Technology, Building Construction Technology, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). These will be career certificate programs that take about one year to complete. The curriculum will also offer forklift certification as a short-term program.
These are in-demand fields that offer excellent opportunity for employment and good paychecks. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates the demand for HVAC technicians will increase by 16 percent in the next few years. Also, the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics predicts the job market for electrical workers will grow six percent by 2032—faster than the average for all occupations.
Equipment used to train in the school will be brand spanking new, and up to industry standards for each of the vocations taught. This is a must to properly prepare the students so they will be solid candidates for hiring once they complete their program.
The only other vocational school in the HCPS system is Tampa Bay Technical High School, which is on Orient Road north of Interstate 4 and west of US 301. The Plant City school will take a different approach in terms of its student body. As the first of its kind for HCPS, high school students can dual-enroll and learn alongside adult trainees. Adults can attend the school from anywhere, including outside of Hillsborough County. High school students within Hillsborough County are eligible to dual-enroll. Dual enrollment students (i.e., high schoolers) will continue to attend their traditional high school, and only be at the Plant City School for a specific time during school hours depending on the program and classes they are taking.
The school classrooms will be able to seat up to 900 students. Initially, the school will employ about five teachers, plus additional clerical and custodial staff. The goal is to employ full-time staff that are industry professionals to teach students. However, part-time staff that are experts in their field may also serve as teachers. The plan is for the facility to grow and expand programs in the future. The anticipated full staff will be 48 people. Once fully staffed, there is a possibility of adding appropriate extracurricular activities and clubs, like Skills USA. It is unlikely the school will offer activities like a band or Key Club.
The school is yet to be named, and Plant City Career Center (PCCC) is used by HCPS to refer to it.