Mayfield District Has Dedication for New CEVEC Building

The unveiled the new CEVEC building to the public with a dedication ceremony and open house on Thursday.

The Cuyahoga East Vocational Education Consortium started in 1980 serving 37 special needs students at Brush High School. More recently, it was housed in leased space on Alpha Park Drive in Highland Heights before moving this school year to a converted bus garage near on SOM Center Road.

This year, there are 319 students participating in the job training, living skills and other programs offered by CEVEC.

"This is truly an example of dream big, start small," Superintendent Phillip Price said. "This is the only building like this in the Midwest. No one else has this facility and support."

Emily McCarthy, a school board member when the district began talks that led to CEVEC's creation.

"It was during my earliest years on the board," she said. "We had a meeting in the small theater by opposite the 9/10 office and talked about developing a program for special needs students in our district."

Bob Ross, now district director of pupil services, was principal of CEVEC from 2000-2010 and said that while he wished he had the facility Principal Cheryl Schwartz now runs, it's not the building that makes CEVEC successful.

"What really makes it a special place is not the building, it's the people who work here," Ross said.