TURNERS FALLS — Franklin County Technical School students are hard at work clearing an approximately 1.5-acre plot of land to make way for a new veterinary clinic and laboratory.
The building, expected to be complete near the beginning of 2023, will be a 4,800-square-foot steel structure that houses a working veterinary clinic, a full array of lab equipment, a pet supply store and more. Superintendent Rick Martin and veterinary science staff see the project as a much-needed upgrade for a program still in its infancy.
Instructors Regina Parsons and Kimberly Barry said the vet program, which was established in 2019, has grown drastically from year to year. Martin explained this has been due to one class of students being added to the program each year, with 2019’s ninth-graders being the inaugural class and each subsequent freshman class then joining. The current study space, composed of a small, more traditional classroom area lined with high-tech equipment that looks out of place, adds to the need to adapt.
“Because it is so new,” Parsons said, “we don’t really have the frameworks to build off of.”
Last week made the need for a new facility all the more evident, staff agreed. On Tuesday, a goat unexpectedly went into labor and those within the vet program marveled as the animal successfully gave birth on the classroom floor.
“This was a life lesson. It’s huge,” Barry said, stressing that a state-of-the-art facility would allow students improved flexibility to adapt to various situations.
Martin voiced his willingness to make a major investment of time and money into the vet program. In addition to securing $300,000 in equipment grant funding, $100,000 in lighting grant funding, and reducing the potential building cost to $1 million for what could have been a $4 million or $5 million project with help from capital stabilization funds, Martin said he dove deep into research to maximize the facility’s potential.
“I probably spent a year visiting every vet lab in the state that was in a school, going, ‘I want that! I want that!’” Martin said, noting that Franklin Tech currently possesses most necessary equipment.
While the school currently has study space and an array of lab equipment, it has never had a working clinic that services outside patrons. In addition to granting students adaptability and technical capabilities, Parsons said, the addition of an operational clinic will help students “dive in” as they engage with further real-world application of their skills.
“Students hate using the phone,” Barry said as an example. “Guess what? You have to use the phone.”
Martin said he plans to discuss with an industry advisory board the capacity in which Franklin Tech’s clinic should serve clientele.
“We don’t want to be competition to other veterinary clinics that are already established,” Martin noted. “This is strictly an educational facility.”
Martin said he has already acquired necessary building materials and engaged in preliminary design phases with an architect. No construction company has been hired to carry out the building process yet, but as has traditionally been the case with the vocational school, its own pupils will be called to the task.
“Our students will be helping even when we bring in a company,” he said.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.
FCTS Vet Building Design by Julian Mendoza on Scribd