Monroe Career and Technical Institute set to break ground on expansion

Monroe Career and Technical Institute expects to break ground early next month for a 17,000-square-foot expansion.

MCTI Director Dennis Virga said the expansion serves three main purposes — addressing student safety, a new multipurpose room and additional space to open up more programming.

MCTI is located in Bartonsville and serves all the school districts within Monroe County.

Virga explained that MCTI is a shared time school, meaning that students transition between their sending school and MCTI. "Currently we don't really have a space for that transition and the kids sometimes are waiting outside, which is not ideal. So this expansion would allow for a location where we can keep the kids indoors during the transition," he said.

"It also bumps out our front entry so you don't have direct access to to the heart of the building, which is our cafeteria. So safety is definitely paramount in this project," Virga said.

Virga said the new multipurpose room would allow MCTI to hold large student gatherings or assemblies, something the building does not currently have space for.

"Our population has exploded here and this 9,000-square-foot area will give us some opportunities for gatherings, give us some opportunities to get more community and industry here to show off what our students are capable of doing… which is very important," Virga said. "It's kind of an exciting expansion that really will give our kids some opportunity to grow and give us space to reshuffle around so we can open up some new programming."

According to Virga, the new multipurpose room will hold up to 1,000 people. He said while MCTI has over 1,100 students currently enrolled, they are a shared school and therefore only have half the students there at any time.

Indirectly, the new multipurpose room will also grow the program offerings. It will allow the current much smaller multipurpose room to be turned into new program space. "Our adult education program will be moved and our office is also being moved up front, so we can open three new programs here too," Virga said.

The existing building is approximately 144,000 square feet.

Virga anticipates the project to break ground around the first week of May and projects its completion within two years.

The school expects to be open and operational during the construction, with the greatest impacts to the parking lot and the main entrance of the school. "We'll have to come up with a temporary entrance for visitors and change the traffic patterns for student busing," Virga said.

Virga said the project cost is "just under $7 million" and that they were able to do it without any bonds. "We are still a debt-free school."

He said funding came through grants and support from the four school districts MCTI serves: Pocono Mountain School District, East Stroudsburg Area School District, Stroudsburg Area School District and Pleasant Valley School District.

MCTI currently offers 24 different programs in clusters, such as the construction cluster, covering carpentry, electrical, masonry, plumbing and HVAC. There is also an automotive cluster, which covers automotive technology, diesel technology, automotive collision repair and power sports.

"We also have a service cluster with cosmetology and a very large and excellent culinary program," Virga said. "We even have our own restaurant that's open to the public. We have industries and a health occupations program, and so much more."

MCTI celebrated 50 years last school year and according to Virga, the growth in enrollment over the years has nearly filled all of the current programs offered. The expansion is expected to open up another 150 spots.

"It's an exciting time here, as we've been working on this project for a few years now and the school hasn't been added to since the late 1990s… but our population has grown," Virga said.

Maria Francis covers K-12 education and real estate, housing and development for the Pocono Record. Reach her at mfrancis@poconorecord.com.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: MCTI expanding to meet higher student interest