Public charter school could be on horizon
County looks at ‘Career Academy’
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
A public charter school focusing on students’ careers is the latest project for the Jackson County School System.
The county school system is seeking a $5,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Education to begin planning a proposed Career Academy. The grant would fund planning activities prior to a charter being approved by the state board of education.
Superintendent Shannon Adams said Thursday that the Jackson County School System’s chances of landing the grant are “excellent.”
A Career Academy in Jackson County would be a partnership between the county school system and Lanier Technical College.
The academy would provide dual enrollment programs for high school students in a career-oriented classroom.
“Kids will be able to get credit for vocational classes, which they can do now, but they would have a chance to get dual enrollment,” Adams said. “We would hope that it would create a lot of interest outside of our school system for other kids to come in as well.”
Proposed programs include: automotive, public safety, digital design, early childhood education, healthcare science, manufacturing, marketing, professional foods, ag bio science and cosmetology. An alternative school and a Nova Net Lab for non-traditional students may also be included in the academy.
The proposed Career Academy may call the existing Gordon Street Center, Jefferson, its home. The Gordon Street Center currently houses the alternative school, Regional Evening School and several classes for students at Jackson County Comprehensive High School.
Adams said opening the Career Academy at the Gordon Street Center would require major renovations to the labs at the facility.
On a related matter, community leaders are taking a look at the financial costs of the Gordon Street Center, which is educating fewer out-of-system students through the Regional Evening School.
When the Regional Evening School was established almost a decade ago, it was open to students in the Jefferson, Commerce, Banks County and Barrow County school systems.
With declining student enrollment from those school systems, Jackson County school leaders are reviewing the financial impact of the Regional Evening School.
Adams said the Jackson County School System is paying an estimated $300,000 to $400,000 a year in local funds to operate the Regional Evening School.
“The need of students that go there are tremendous, but there are just not that many students there,” Adams said. “It’s not serving that many students right now.”
The fate of the Regional Evening School remains unknown at this time, he added. A task force is slated to ask community leaders about their support for the program.
And should the school system move forward with its plans for the Career Academy, an estimated $700,000 to $900,000 in initial grant funds from two state agencies are available. The Jackson County School System may sustain the Career Academy with local funds and possibly a HOPE grant for dual-enrollment students.
“We’re really, really early in that whole process. We haven’t even completed the planning grant,” Adams said of the proposed Career Academy.
