This new school offers training in sought-after careers.
Currently known as Plant City Technical College, the school is a Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) project that sits on 16 acres on East Park Road, just west of the Plant City Stadium. The project kicked off in July 2024 and is projected to be completed “fall-ish,” depending on the speed of construction and how quickly staff can be hired. Currently, 100 to 150 construction workers labor at the site daily. On July 8, TECO employees were on site to hook up the building to power.
The trades that will be taught are Industrial Electricity, Welding Technology, Building Construction Technology, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). The facility totals 52,000 square feet. One building holds 16 classrooms with eight on each floor. The other main building will hold six classrooms with storage space and its own shop where students will get hands-on training. Each classroom has space for 30 students. Night classes will not be held initially. There are several decisions to be made about what the enrollment will be. The school’s motto is, “Find Your Future,” and it offers a path to an employable career in the community for students who may be unsure of what their future holds.
“Everything is going to be brand-spankin’ new,” Gary Graham, the school’s principal, said. “The people, in combination with our community and the school district, have really planned this building site well, and there has been a lot of forethought in doing it right. This is something that this community, eastern Hillsborough County, and more specifically Plant City, has needed for a long, long time.” Other HCPS technical schools are a long drive, especially for new high school graduates who may not have a car.
Currently, the cost to attend the school is $2.92 per clock hour. Welding is a 15-month program, which is approximately 2,000 hours of clock time. “There are multiple ways to secure financial aid for students,” Graham said. “Students going into the most technical programs in Hillsborough County are paying little to nothing to attend, based on financial aid and grants that are available.” Staff counselors will be on site to assist students in making sure they secure any available aid.
“I have been in high schools for 30 years now,” Graham commented. He has been the principal at Durant High School since 2019. “I have seen the message move for students. Twenty years ago, it was, ‘Everybody should be college bound.’ Over the last 10 years, there has been a big shift, and rightly so, that there are some real career opportunities that are available for students right after they graduate. It’s exciting. With the equipment, it is going to be state-of-the-art, the envy of any technical college in the Bay Area. The design team, the architecture; they really did it right.”
Since the school will not be ready when HCPS classes start in August, there will be no dual enrollment for high school students in 2025. However, once opened, the school will be live 12 months a year. HCPS is working on developing the website with an enrollment portal. The number of staff is yet to be determined. HCPS will hire critical clerical positions and teaching staff. Applicants for teaching positions must have at least three years of experience in a trade to teach it. Applications are available at https://www.hillsboroughschools.org.
“To see students learning a trade and you know in a year they are going to be contributing to our community is exciting,” Graham commented. “Plant City is different than any other community in our county—different in a good way—how supportive they are, how connected they are, how much they want to be included in schools. So, it was important for the school board to make sure there was a Plant City connection. We are here to continue to support this community, and we are looking forward to that partnership.”
Because of that partnership mindset, Hillsborough County Public Schools has invited community members to participate in giving the school its official name. People can submit their suggestions through an online survey at https://bit.ly/plantcitytechnical. The survey opened on July 7, and closes on July 25, at 5:00 p.m. HCPS will compile the ideas and present them to the school board for review. The board is scheduled to vote on the official name during their meeting on August 26.
