Fayette school board gets update on career and tech center construction, including name

The proposed name for the new $65 million career and technical center on Lexington’s Midland Avenue — set to open in the fall of 2025 — is “HILL,” an acronym for the Hub for Innovative Learning & Leadership.

The Fayette County Public Schools board, which learned of the proposed name from district staff at Monday night’s board planning meeting, will vote on it at the Oct. 23 regular meeting. The center will be housed in the former Lexington Herald-Leader building, which is being refurbished.

The programs include automation engineering, construction trades, culinary arts, homeland security, media arts, medical sciences, transportation technology and pre-nursing, the district website said.

The building will include administration areas on each floor, labs and classrooms, and collaborative breakout areas. It will also feature energy efficient designs, which are a priority for the school district, according to the website.

The refurbishment project is 43% complete and on track to open up in the fall of 2025, Fayette Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said.

The new center will replace the current Eastside and Southside Technical centers and triple the amount of students that can be served, Liggins said.

About 3,000 would attend total, some in the afternoon, others in the morning, from both FCPS and some surrounding counties, said district spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith.

The name “captures all of the various components for the facility,” said board Chairman Tyler Murphy. “It’s CTE (career and technical education) reimagined.”

“The hill is a reference to the climb that our students are going to make to get to their goals,” Fayette County Schools CTE director Amanda Wickersham told school board members.

Educators, industry leaders and stakeholders have been working for several months on the center that will open doors and opportunities for access to students and adults alike, Liggins said.

In 2016, the state did a funding audit and concluded that career and technical education was drastically underfunded, Wickersham said. That realization led to several new opportunities, including FCPS’ new center.

“The end game is a career. So it’s not just a certification, it’s not just a credential. It’s all of those things,” Wickersham said.

The school district wants employers to be active partners and for the community to have a place of continual lifelong learning, officials said.