MCTI is looking to replace school’s roof

Monroe Career and Technical Institute’s director Dennis Virga spoke to the Pleasant Valley School Board on Thursday night about his plan to replace the school’s roof in two years, debt-free.

Virga said MCTI has saved enough money, a little more than $1 million, to cover the first phase of the project this summer. But it will need the school district to approve his plans for the second phase, which will be completed during the summer of 2021.

Each year, MCTI receives a vocational subsidy of about $670,000 each year, which is divided up and returned to each of the four school districts that supports it. In 2016-17, Virga said they asked to hold on to the subsidy to help pay for their capital improvement projects and the first phase of the roof restoration. Those projects were completed in the first year of his three-year plan. The first phase of the roof project is year two of the plan.

Virga asked if MCTI could once again keep the subsidy to put toward the second phase of the roof project.

“That is the final large-scale project,” he said.

Virga also asked to hold onto $894,000 in excess revenue and $220,000 from the budgetary reserve, which is in the school district’s budget.

“It was budgeted by the districts, so it isn’t an added expense,” he said about the budgetary reserve.

These amounts are split among the four districts that support MCTI, not just Pleasant Valley.

The total would be about $1.7 million for the second phase of the roof project. Once the roof is paid off, Virga said he thinks the school would have about $238,000 left that can go toward replacing part of the lower parking lot that is crumbling, and a few other projects.

“We can remain debt-free, we don’t have to take out a bond, and we get the roof done in two years,” he said.

Virga said that although enrollment in the schools that support it has decreased, MCTI is almost at 90% capacity and growing. Last year, they had 1,000 students, and this year they started with 1,050 and are now approaching 1,100.

Pleasant Valley sends 232 students to MCTI, which is a little more than 100% of the number of students the school can accept from the district.

“So many of our students are excelling at MCTI,” said school board President Donna Yozwiak. “They are getting their certifications and going on to being successfully employed. We are very proud of our MCTI students.”

Virga said his staff takes pride in their work. “We want our students to leave with one or both: college credits and industry certification.”

He said MCTI’s programs offer articulated credits that can be applied to college credit, and those going to technical schools make employment connections in their fields before graduation. MCTI also will pay half of the cost of the certifications for students who need the financial assistance.

“We don’t want students to miss out on opportunity because of a dollar amount,” he said.