District 5 Awarded $10.3 Million Grant for Magnet Programs

Submitted by Lexington-Richland 5

Lexington-Richland School District Five has been awarded a federal three-year grant totaling more than $10.3 million to fund magnet programs at Dutch Fork Elementary School, Seven Oaks Elementary School, Irmo Middle School, Irmo High School and Spring Hill High School.  

The grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education through its Magnet School Assistant Program (MSAP), is one of 27 awarded across the nation.  District Five is one of only two school districts in South Carolina to receive the grant.

“This is outstanding news for our school district, and we couldn’t be more excited about it,” said Superintendent Dr. Stephen Hefner. “District Five has long placed a priority on growing our magnet program offerings and providing our families with the choices they need to make their students successful in school and in future careers.”

The MSAP program aims to improve school diversity while growing students' knowledge of academic subjects and their grasp of marketable career skills. Federal officials say the special curriculum of a magnet school attracts substantial numbers of students from different social, economic, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Magnet schools must meet state academic standards and graduation requirements.

“Magnet schools help increase public school options for parents and students in communities across the country,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a release by the federal agency. “These grants will help students gain access to challenging curricula that will help prepare them for college and 21st century careers.” 

In District Five, school magnet themes were developed in response to a community-wide survey administered in fall 2012.  With the exception of Spring Hill High School, which opened in August 2013 as an all-magnet high school, the schools will “open” as magnets in fall 2014.

Dutch Fork Elementary Academy for Environmental Science will use the rich local environment and school campus to study core subjects through the lens of earth, water, and space.  DFES students will have opportunities to be guided in their learning by scientists, teachers, naturalists, historians, artists and musicians.

Seven Oaks Elementary MEDIA Magnet will foster a range of content and digital literacies among students through a MEDIA (Mass Communication. Engagement. Digital Media. Interactive Learning. Academics) theme that offers activities, centered in “real-world” project-based and collaborative learning approaches in classrooms and at “work” in the TV/Radio Studios.

The International Academic Magnet at Irmo Middle School (IAM) will offer students opportunities to develop competencies in leadership, communication, fine arts, and entrepreneurship within the international community. IAM students will collaborate, share opinions, and research with students in classrooms across the nation and around the globe.  IAM will establish partnerships with local and state corporations and entrepreneurs to provide students with authentic examples of global citizenship.

Irmo International High School for the Arts will offer a rigorous, standards-based curriculum that challenges students intellectually and creatively through arts-infused learning embedded in a global approach.  Teachers will deliver much of the curriculum within their content areas, including concepts, issues, and themes, through the lens of global world-wide Visual and Performing Arts.

Spring Hill High School offers five magnet academies: Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Entertainment, Environmental Studies, and Exercise Science.  Students will pursue a program of study with rigorous standards-based instruction in all content areas and school-specific course requirements, supported by job shadowing, internship, and summer work experiences. All students will participate in cross-academy projects that will enable them to apply what they are learning. 

Spring Hill High School Principal Dr. Michael Lofton said, “Our first year at Spring Hill High School is already off to a great start. This grant will build on success and accelerate our progress.” 

Irmo High School Principal David Riegel added, “We started the year with the theme that Irmo High is a school with a ‘Proud Past and Bright Future’ and this grant will go a long way to taking our legacies to the next level ... The excitement is nearly palpable. We are absolutely thrilled about what this grant will mean for our students and where this will take them on their journeys to their future careers.”

District Five will hold a Magnet Fair on Nov. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Center for Advanced Technical Studies so that interested families and students can learn more about the magnet programs offered by the district.