A new $3 million building is giving Ririe students a head start on skilled trades
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RIRIE — Ririe School District 252 held an open house on its new Career Technical Education building Tuesday, weeks after its completion.
The 11,400-square-foot building, which sits on the north side of Ririe Junior-Senior High School, began operation in mid-October. Preliminary construction got underway last fall, but construction of the physical framework didn’t begin until August.
Superintendent Jeff Gee tells EastIdahoNews.com the $3 million project was funded entirely through grants and the School Modernization Facilities Fund, created through House Bill 521 in 2024.
He praises the contractor, Bateman Hall, and other local companies who helped the project move forward quickly.
“I give a lot of credit to Bateman Hall for the work they did on this to get us in as quickly as they did,” Gee says. “We’re just excited. We wanted to have an open house to allow people to see what we’ve been able to do and what the future looks like in Ririe.”
Classes have been held inside the building on a part-time basis since mid-October. Gee says it will begin full-time use at the beginning of the trimester in a few weeks.
It includes a sewing class, wood shop, a small engines automotive class. Additional classes, like welding and ecology, will eventually be added to the schedule.
He says the entire student body, which consists of about 230 students, will benefit from the CTE building.
The demand for skilled labor is what prompted the school board to push for the CTE building in the first place. Gee says he submitted the initial grant application for the project in 2024, which resulted in an award of $1.3 million. He’s proud that it happened without any taxpayer dollars.
“We didn’t have to (get a bond on the ballot) or anything like that,” he says. “One of the things I’m most proud of is that we were able to use the money we had to build a building that we needed.”
With the new building, Gee says they’ve transitioned from a cluster program to a pathways program. This will allow teachers to provide specific instruction so that students can be certified in a particular trade by the time they graduate.
Gee says the goal is to help students get a head start on their higher education or be prepared to enter the workforce.
“We want to see these kids leave Ririe High School with the ability to make a decent living. If they want to go on to trade school, we definitely encourage that. But if they leave here with a certification, they can go get a job (right away),” says Gee.
