New JTED High School to Open in 2020

New+JTED+High+School+to+Open+in+2020

Kianna Montano, Beat Investagator-ELL/Foreign

JTED currently has 15 individual campuses around Tucson, but none of them give students the opportunity to complete high school general education classes.  A new high school is being built on Tucson’s south side. This high school will be the JTED Innovative Learning Campus, where students will be offered training in discipline, including culinary arts, medical assisting, mechatronics, and more, giving hundreds of teens the opportunity to work towards industry certifications while also earning a high school diploma.

Everything will be held in a 50,000-square-foot building. This project is being held by the Pima Joint Technological Education District in partnership with Tucson’s largest school districts.

The campus will be located on the northwest corner of Park Avenue and Interstate 10, and it will cost the JTED career-and-technical-educational district $14 million to construct and own.

JTED plans on opening the school in the fall of 2020, says Kathy Prather the Superintendent for the JTED program.

“We’re talking about 14, 15 months from now,” Prather said. “And the reason we’re working so quickly … is because there are so many students that deserve to have this opportunity in their neighborhood, nearby.”

There are students who sometimes have to take transportation across town to get to the JTED classes that are required after their normal school days, and it’s a struggle for so many students.

JTED is trying to get Sunnyside Unified in on their project, Prather stated. The new JTED school will reside within TUSD’s boundary areas. It is only a few minutes away from the neighborhoods of Sunnyside.

JTED has been planning on making a high school for about 14 years and it’s soon to be open in 2020.

Be ready to expect a new JTED high school that students can attend.