Community celebrates grand opening of Portneuf Valley technical school

POCATELLO – A crowd of community members and leaders all gathered in front of a regional technical education school last week to celebrate its grand opening.

The Portneuf Valley Technical Education and Career Campus (PV-TEC) held its official grand opening ceremony Thursday afternoon, with a crowd of over 100 people watching Principal Rhonda Naftz cut the ribbon.

The school has been educating students in career technical education fields since August, and the administrator believes it will continue to impact students for generations.

“This facility will impact generations to come. Long after I am out of my office and someone else is there, this building will still stand,” Naftz told the crowd.

PV-TEC educates students in a variety of career technical education programs, with multiple areas of focus offered in first responder training, health professions and business, as well as courses in industrial welding, computer programming/cybersecurity and broadcasting technology.

The building that now houses these CTE programs wasn’t always a place for education. When it was originally constructed, it was a call center for Allstate. By the time Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 acquired the building, the call center was closed and it was sitting vacant.

“I like the fact that we purchased a building that didn’t have anything in it, and then we created something so amazing. It’s not just another building that’s sitting empty,” Naftz told EastIdahoNews.com.

Students taking courses at PV-TEC, who are mostly juniors and seniors from all three area high schools, have the option to attend their two-hour block class at either the beginning or the end of the day. They also have the option to ride the bus from their high school to the CTE campus, and then back to their school.

Students outside of PCSD 25 also have the opportunity to attend PV-TEC, on the condition that the course isn’t offered in their home district and they can provide their own transportation. Naftz said this is because the district doesn’t want to take students away from other CTE programs.

“We’re only here to expand opportunities, not in any way to diminish another school district’s program,” Naftz said.

During her speech, Naftz held up a green honor cord, which PV-TEC students wear when they graduate high school.

“They are proud of this (honor cord). This means that they passed the National Workplace Readiness (Certificate). They took a technical skills assessment. They earned skill stack badges. They earned industry certificates. They earned college credits, and they are ready to go,” Naftz said.

Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, spoke at the celebration about seeing students’ dedication as he’s taken tours of the school.

“You can tell that they want to be here. They want to be here because they’re choosing to be here and they’re choosing to realize real world skills for the 21st century,” Manwaring said.

Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, shared what he thinks his great-great-grandfather — who was a member of the school board in 1909 — would have thought about PV-TEC

“I think he … would have been excited about the expansion of educational opportunities, matching students’ natural interests and skills with a curriculum, which is what this program does,” Ruchti said.

The school’s layout is designed to be adaptable to a constantly changing workplace so that future students can acquire the skills to be successful.

“I know that long after I’m gone, this building will still be here, and it will still be impacting students,” Naftz said.

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