Despite a lack of recent updates, the proposed Orange County Career and Technical Education Center (CTE) project is still moving forward.
The center has long been a discussed need in the county. In 2009, a taskforce was formed to study career and technical education. That taskforce created a study which was endorsed by the school board and presented throughout the county for the next 14 months to garner support. In 2011, a conceptual design for a proposed facility was created by Grimm and Parker Architects. The $15.3 million, 58,840 gross square foot, two-story facility would have been located adjacent to the high school (the chosen site from among four including the Timber Truss Building, the Blue Bell Factory and the Butler Building) and contain areas for agriculture, health and medical trades, building trades, automotive and small engine studies, family and consumer sciences, virtual classrooms linked to Germanna Community College and banquet and large group instruction space. But it never came to fruition.
The conversation was reignited in 2023 with RRMM Architects presenting the results of a feasibility study during a special called school board meeting in December. In November 2024, a roundtable was hosted to allow the public to review the CTE facility options and in December, school board members voted 3-2 to request bids on a proposed 30,000 square foot, pre-engineered metal building on the grounds of Orange County High School. A request for proposals for the design, engineering and construction administration of the facility was issued in early May with a deadline of June 30. Five addendums with clarifications were issued over that time period.
Six bids were received. RRMM was among the bidders, along with Harrisonburg-based Moseley Architects which designed the Locust Grove Middle School, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certified building. Other bidders include Hillsville-based WMZA Architects, Richmond-based Quinn Evans, Reston-based Architecture, Inc. and Roanoke-based Spectrum Design.
Superintendent Dr. Daniel Hornick said the bids are being evaluated as well as options for funding the project. A timeline has been created to show the past and current progress on the CTE facility and is available online at https://www.ocss-va.org/departments/facilities-maintenance/capital-projects. The living document will be updated as progress continues.
“It’s important the community knows what we’re doing,” he said. “[The facility] is still a high priority.”
Hornick said the goal is for the facility to be open in the fall of 2027 to start serving students.
