Delhi Unified School District celebrates opening of Career and Technical Education building

Delhi Unified School District held a ribbon cutting ceremony this week to celebrate its new multi-million dollar career technical education building — and it’s already a hit with the students.

The CTE building, which had been in the works the past eight years, cost roughly $10 million.

Students can start taking classes in agricultural mechanics and welding inside the new 15,000 square-foot facility by the upcoming fall semester.

Delhi Unified School District Superintendent Jose Miguel Kubes said during Tuesday’s ceremony that every CTE course to be offered in the fall was already filled. The classes sizes range from 20 to 30 students.

“What this building represents is us being able to amplify the opportunities that our students are going to get,” Kubes said, “and the skillset that they’re going to have.”

Career and technical education

Kubes said the purpose of the CTE pathways is to provide students with vocational training opportunities while in school. So when the time comes for the students to leave the district, they have CTE skills to use for a career in the Central Valley.

The district also plans to offer opportunities to middle school students to use the facility and receive CTE training.

“Right now, what we’re looking to do is first establish the high school pathways with the fundamental courses, “ Kubes said. “As those courses begin to take fruition, the high school and middle school leadership team are working together to identify what opportunities we can start providing to our middle school students. Because we want to develop a pathway that actually starts from middle school.

“Our goal is that by 2027,” Kubes said, “we’re the premier district in Merced County.”

Ready to join workforce

Funding for CTE facility and supplies came from the Bond Measure W, which passed in 2016 and authorized the use of $12 million for the building.

According to Kubes, the school district has already secured two teachers for the CTE program. One of the teachers already is working within the district.

In addition, a Delhi Unified School District student will be graduating in May with an Associate of Arts Degree through a dual enrollment program.

“So we want to prepare our students that want to go to college so they can actually leave prepared, but also our students that want to follow the technical career pathway so they can leave here with certification,” Kubes said. “So what we want for the future is that students are able to leave already ready to join the workforce.”