Appalachian Technical College's Jasper campus will join the largest soon-to-be-merged technical school in the state.

The Technical College System of Georgia's state board of technical and adult education unanimously voted Thursday to allow it to consolidate with Acworth's North Metro Technical College and Marietta's Chattahoochee Technical College.

All 22 members of the board were in support of the request.

Appalachian Tech's Woodstock and planned Canton campuses already were approved for the merger, which will take effect on July 1.

Both Pickens and Gilmer counties will be included in the merged college's service area.

Fannin County will remain within the service area of North Georgia Technical College.

The merger will make the soon-to-be named college the largest in the state, with a student population of roughly 15,000 students.

"We really feel good about this," Mike Light, system executive director of communications, said Thursday. "The true winners will be the students."

The request to include the Jasper campus in the merger came from Appalachian Tech's Board of Directors Chairman Steve Holcomb.

Holcomb said he was approached by the board's Pickens and Gilmer representatives, who said they wanted to be included in the north metro merger.

With many Pickens and Gilmer residents already traveling to Cherokee, Cobb and north Fulton to work and shop, Holcomb said the inclusion of the Jasper campus seemed "natural."

"It's a real, natural corridor for growth and expansion" of the Interstates 75 and 575 and Highway 515 corridor, said Holcomb, the Cherokee County president of United Community Bank. "It's just the natural course of the geographical area."

Bringing the Jasper campus under the arm of the north metro consolidation, Holcomb said also would expand the variety of classes available to students in the service area.

Appalachian Tech's Board of Directors Vice Chairwoman Pam Carnes said Thursday's decision will give more communities the opportunity to further their education.

"It just opens the doors even wider as far as opportunity," said Mrs. Carnes, president of the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce. "It's a good move."

The three schools now will come together and formulate their plans for a consolidated school, Holcomb said.

Appalachian Tech's President Dr. Sanford Chandler has been tapped to head the school, which will serve Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Gilmer Paulding and Pickens counties.

Former North Metro president Steve Dougherty was named the new president of North Georgia Tech.

The consolidation is part of the system's plans to merge 14 technical schools statewide into seven, which would reduce the number of technical schools from 33 to 26. All of the mergers will go into effect in July.

The merger will not affect the construction of Appalachian Tech's new campus in The Bluffs at Technology Park in Canton, which will open in the spring of 2011.

Appalachian Tech's Woodstock campus, which opened in 2005 in the former Woodstock elementary school buildings, also will continue operating.

The buildings still are owned by the Cherokee County School District, but Chandler has formed a new partnership to continue using the buildings and to encourage continuing education for school employees.

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