(10/27) Fairfield Area School District’s (FASD) School Board members voted to establish and participate in the Adams County Career and Technical Center during their October 14 meeting. Of the five districts that will be participating, FASD is the fourth district in Adams County to vote in favor of participation with the establishment of Adams Technical Institute.

Adams County Tech Prep (ACTP) is a career and technical school for students in grades 11 and 12. Students from five high schools in Adams County are served, including Bermudian Springs, Fairfield, Gettysburg, Littlestown, and New Oxford. Seven career and technical programs are offered: Allied Health, Building Trades, Computer Networking, Culinary Arts, Diesel Technology, Early Learning, and Law Enforcement. However, as it currently stands, Adams County does not yet have a career and technical center. A majority of the other counties throughout Pennsylvania already have career and technical centers for all of the school districts within their county. Shawn Eckenrode, the Adams County Tech Prep Director, hopes to change that.

Early in September, Eckenrode gave a presentation to Fairfield’s School Board on the process of forming the countywide career and technical center. More specifically, Eckenrode discussed the formation of the Joint Operations Committee (JOC), what comes next regarding the Articles of Agreement outlined in the establishment of the center, and what is expected of all the member Districts moving forward.

The JOC essentially serves as the "school board" for the center, and as discussed, a majority of the "Articles of Agreement" is driven by school code, including the formation of a "board," finances, etc. Two members from each school board will serve on the JOC, however each school would only receive one vote. Members will serve three-year terms. The Center will have a Superintendent of Record, an Administrative Director, and a Professional Advisory Committee. The Superintendent of Record will be one of the participating districts’ Superintendents who will serve for one year and the Professional Advisory Committee will be made up of all the Superintendents from the participating school districts.

Currently, the tech prep programs are paid for based upon average enrollment for the past three school years. Eckenrode discussed that ideally he would like to transition that fee to be based upon the ratio of students in grades 9-12 This transition would take place over a five-year period. For FASD, this would mean a significant savings for the district, which is currently paying $113,000 per year to participate in the ACTP program. Eckenrode estimates that Fairfield will only be paying approximately $95,650 by end of the five-year transition period based upon the number of students enrolled in the district.

Once all five districts approve of the Articles of Agreement, the JOC will submit their application to the state, and once approved they can begin operating as their own entity. The goal is to be fully operational by next school year. All participating districts entered into a ten-year initial agreement.

Eckenrode also explained that ACTP is not looking to build a new building/center right now. The location of the programs offered will remain where they currently are, at the tech prep building next to Gettysburg High School. This building houses four out of the five programs. Within this new center Eckenrode hopes to include apprenticeships to help offer students more opportunities within the technical fields.