Jackson Board to Move Forward with AEI for New CTE Project

The Jackson County Board of Education met with potential architects for its newest project Monday night.

The Board voted to move forward with AEI Engineering for the CTE Learning Programs building project at the special called meeting. Director of Schools Kristy Brown said this is a very important project for the future of the school system.

“We’re in the process of transitioning from a place where our students have to travel or we bus them to take classes,” Brown said. “What we want to do is to be able to offer TCAT CTE classes on the campus of Jackson County High School.”

Brown said they discussed the project with Upland Design and AEI, both of which seemed very qualified. She said the Board decided to move forward into contract negotiations with AEI due to the information they were presented.

“Those decisions are made at the Board’s discretion and I think that after listening to the process and their approach to the project… it’s just an overall choice,” Brown said.

Brown said this project makes technical and career education classes more accessible to interested students. She said all of the Board’s work is for the future success of all students as they continue to learn.

“That’s why we do anything that we do here in our school district is to make sure that we are providing opportunities for our students as much as we can,” Brown said. “Being innovative and making sure that we’re meeting the needs that they’re going to need in their future is our goal.”

Brown said the Board has discussed this need for an extended period of time. Brown said she would consider the meeting a success in many ways.

“It is really exciting to move forward with the planning and eventually the design phase of what a building would look like for our students,” Brown said. “I’m really excited to move forward with this and would call it a success, we’re ready to go.”