Renovations to the Miller Career and Technology Center are on track, according to a Nov. 15 presentation on the facility’s design during a Katy ISD board of trustees meeting.
The project will be funded through savings from the district’s 2017 voter-supported bond. Stantec Architecture was hired by KISD to design the renovations in August, and Brookstone LP joined the project in October as the construction manager. The renovations include about 18,870 square feet of updates to the facility's culinary, veterinary medicine, cosmetology, health science and dental areas, as well as the addition of a construction trade program, an emergency medical technician program and some smaller changes to building access, according to the meeting presentation.
The construction trade program is one of two new programs to come from the renovations, which will update what is currently a classroom and a flex space into a construction trade laboratory and a supporting classroom. The lab will include stations for construction-related mechanical, plumbing and electrical instruction, according to the presentation.
The new program—dubbed construction management and inspection—includes two courses beginning in August 2022: Construction Trades I and II. The courses offer certification and summer internship opportunities, according to the presentation.
The EMT program will occupy the space of four existing classrooms that will be converted to an EMT lab and two supporting classrooms. Additionally, the EMT lab will be the new home of Miller CTC’s mock ambulance—which is currently located in the health and science area, the presentation showed.
The design presentation also showed health science renovations will remove the existing dividing doors between the existing health and science laboratory to create a larger lab, which will include two phlebotomy stations and two exam tables.
Changes to the culinary bistro area include converting four existing classrooms into two culinary labs with six stations each, revising the kitchen layout to include more freezer and cooler space, and adding a snack bar that will open to an inner hallway, according to the presentation.
The veterinary medicine renovations will also use the existing area. The classrooms and adjacent support rooms will be combined to create a larger laboratory. Additional kennel storage with hallway access will be added and more showers will be installed in the existing clean room. Additionally, the design includes a new veterinary lab with a folding partition to separate the space into two labs, if needed.
Renovations to the cosmetology area will convert an existing office into a reception area with controlled exterior door access for cosmetology services, and the existing counters will be removed to add two new dressing stations. Lastly, the dental salon will gain a dental station and casework, according to the presentation.
Miller CTC, a district facility that offers specialized career and technical education programs and core classes to KISD juniors and seniors, offers three programs: business and industry, public service, and STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Miller CTC students are at the campus for half of the day and their usual high school campus for the remainder of the school day.
Beginning in November and through January, the construction document production process will be executed through collaboration between the district’s facility and planning department, Brookstone LP and the design team, according to the presentation.
The next public-facing step in facility renovations will take place in March, when the KISD board of trustees will be presented with the construction amount, according to district documents. If the milestones are completed on time, district officials anticipate construction on the Miller CTC renovations will begin in March of 2022.
