Schools
Full STEM Ahead for Planned South Cobb Charter
STEM Inventors Academy is still a go as South Cobb's next startup charter despite a few obstacles in the last few months.
STEM Inventors Academy may have hit a few bumps in the road, but the organizers for this South Cobb startup charter are moving forward.
Rep. Alisha Morgan (D-Austell), one of the planned charter’s organizers, said the group plans to create a nonprofit organization, which would be the leading partner of the school.
The details for the nonprofit organization have not been solidified, Morgan said.
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SIM organizers plan to reapply for the Innovation Fund grant, which it was rewarded in January.
The $50,000 in funds, which come from the state’s Race to the Top funds, were returned when the Cobb County School District decided against being the school’s leading partner.
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The school was planned for a fall 2013 opening, but Morgan said the school would not open for another two years at least.
“I just want to see the school come to fruition,” Morgan told South Cobb Patch. “I know that we’re going to move forward with the school and that’s all we have planned.”
Without CCSD, the group of organizers no longer had a leading partner for the school. However, Kennesaw State University still plans to be the leading partner for the planning grant.
“Kennesaw State officials continue to be quite willing to participate in -- and/or lead -- the planning grant process. However, our position remains that we have no capacity or desire to lead the proposed charter school,” Arlethia Perry-Johnson, vice president for external affairs at Kennesaw State University, stated in an email to South Cobb Patch.
Morgan said there had been confusion about the charter school. KSU officials were content with being the lead partner on the grant, but not the school, Morgan said.
“That has always been the understanding,” Morgan explained. “No one in this discussion had any intention of Kennesaw State to run the school. No one asked them to do that.”
KSU will be a full partner with the school, which allows the university to develop curriculum and train teachers.
Morgan said the school has received a “tremendous amount of support from the community.”
“We’re excited,” she said.
Should STEM Inventors Academy organizers move forward with this school? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
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