The Fayette County School System will not be applying for a $1.2 million state grant that, had it been approved, could have potentially established a local Center of Innovation at the former Fayetteville Intermediate School (FIS) to help prepare students for employment in the health sciences and digital media/animation fields.
Board members rejecting the proposal said not enough information had been provided, acknowledging that staff had only a few weeks to generate the proposal that carries a submission date of late October.
The school board on Oct. 20 voted 3-to-2 against the motion to approve the grant application.
Board member Leonard Presberg made the motion to accept Superintendent Jody Barrow’s recommendation to apply for the grant. Board member Dan Colwell provide the second to the motion, saying he was hesitant not to approve the application, adding that the board could accept or reject the grant at a later date.
Presberg stating his rationale for the vote said, “We’re just voting to see if we can get the money and we’re not committing (to accept the grant if approved).”
Board members Bob Todd, Barry Marchman and Chairman Marion Key voted against the measure.
Marchman in his comments said he had only heard about the proposal on Oct. 17 and was not comfortable voting for something that had a number of unanswered questions.
“I think all of us agree with your vision,” Marchman said to Barrow. “But I don’t know what strings might be attached. After the grant money is spent it’s up to the taxpayers to fund it.”
Addressing the relative speed with which the grant proposal occurred, Barrow said school system staff became aware of the grant just over a month ago and began putting a proposal together for the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement 3-4 weeks ago. Barrow said the grant application was due in late October, noting the brief turn-around time involved in the application submission process.
“We do need to develop new programs,” Todd said, adding that he and Key had been asking for such an endeavor for the past five years. “But how are we going to do it and fund it. Is the grant for one year? How do we fund it beyond that?”
Barrow said that the short turn-around time for the grant notwithstanding, there are other grants available, some of which are larger. Barrow said the school system will pursue those grants once staff has sufficient time to address all the issues involved.
“We’ll find a way to address these need issues in the future,” Barrow said, mirroring some of the comments from the board. “I think this is the direction we need to go in.”
As envisioned, the Center for Innovation would have focused on health sciences and digital media/animation pathways for high school students in the district. The program would have been housed at FIS and would have included the school system partnering with Southern Crescent Technical College.
“If the grant is awarded, plans include renovate and reopen the former Fayetteville Intermediate School (FIS) on Hood Avenue in Fayetteville to transform existing education space into technology-rich, high performance student and teacher workspaces that foster collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking,” the school system document said.
The new FIS will become the first Center of Innovation and house “Trailblazing Teachers” who will lead the district’s proposed health sciences and animation pathways. It will also serve as a model school where teachers may come and observe classes in action, attend “Education Innovation Boot Camps,” develop technology fluency and reinvent their own teaching practices, school officials said.
Plans called for the school system to partner with Piedmont Fayette Hospital, animation firm Bento Box Entertainment and Southern Crescent Technical College. Bento Box and Piedmont Fayette Hospital would advise on workforce needs and provide apprenticeship and internship opportunities to qualified students. Southern Crescent Technical College will provide dual credit opportunities for students and professional development opportunities for teachers.
