Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco has ruled that the River Valley School District will be able to leave the ICTC consortium in 13 years.
In 2024, River Valley School district requested to leave the group after being one of the founding members. The removal was rejected by the other six districts involved, with ICTC’s executive director Michael McDermott saying their choice could jeopardize the future of the vocational-technical school and the other member districts. In mid-2025, Judge Bianco initially denied the attempt to leave the consortium, but it went back before the court in December.
In an opinion written by Judge Bianco on January 20th, he said that neither ICTC or River Valley intended the agreement to be terminable at will nor indefinite without a mechanism in place to terminate without the unanimous agreement of the other schools. That meant it was up to Judge Bianco to set a reasonable duration period. That period, according to Bianco’s ruling, will be 13 years from the date a member gives notice of departure to allow kids currently in Kindergarten any chance to attend ICTC if they wished as the separation process.
River Valley Board President Rick Harper said he was confused by the judge’s decision on 13 years.
ICTC’s Mike McDermott said they will continue to treat River Valley like all other sending schools.
According to the terms from Judge Bianco, River Valley can officially leave ICTC May 28th, 2037, which is 13 years from when they posted a notice of intent to withdraw.
