Here’s what going in the old Deseret Industries building in Idaho Falls
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The following is a news release from Idaho Falls School District 91.
IDAHO FALLS — Idaho Falls School District 91 plans to locate its new stand-alone Center for Career and Technical Education in downtown Idaho Falls in a building at 450 E St., which once housed the Deseret Industries store.
“It’s a great location,” said D91 Supt. Dr. Jim Shank. “It is ideally located in the heart of the city, which will make it easy for students to pursue CTE opportunities no matter where they live.”
D91 announced plans for a stand-alone CTE Center in November. The center is an integral part of the district’s efforts to expand its CTE offerings.
The center will house existing CTE programs currently scattered in school buildings around the district such as certified nursing assistant, culinary arts, EMT and computer science, as well as new programs such as construction and trades, ag and horticulture.
“The CTE Center will be easily accessible to all the high schools including Ririe, Shelley and Firth. With the city buildings, fire department and local businesses close by, students will be able to visit those sites without any special transportation,” said Bobbie Crosser Finlayson, the Career & Technical Education Coordinator for Idaho Falls, Firth, Ririe and Shelley school districts.
D91’s Board of Trustees gave initial approval to the project in November. The design work for the necessary improvements to the building is already underway. The project is expected to be put out to bid in late winter/early spring. The bid packages will then go to the board for final approval sometime in the spring. If the board gives final approval, work will begin immediately, and the center is scheduled to be open in Fall 2022.
The district is leasing the 30,000+ square foot building until a permanent location for the CTE Center is identified. That issue will likely be addressed as part of the district’s renewed efforts to develop a long-term facilities plan. Work on the facilities plan began in 2019, but was put on hold in early 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. The district is restarting those efforts this month with a comprehensive community survey on facilities, which will give parents, patrons and staff an opportunity to identify needs and priorities.