June 27, 2015- Albany, GA from The Albany Herald- Dormant for the past three years, the opportunity for a college and career academy in Albany gained new life this week after a meeting in Dougherty County School Superintendent Butch Mosely's office. The school system may also gain a new middle school on the south side in the process.
During the meeting, Mosely, Albany Technical College President Anthony Parker, two representatives from the Georgia Department of Education, a charter school consultant and DCSS staff, decided to revisit the academy proposal, which was shot down by the school board by a 4-3 vote 2012.
"We think the community is now ready for a college and career academy," Mosely said Friday. "We think our students should have an opportunity they don't now have. A career academy will help keep kids in school and prepare them for college or to enter the workforce. When explained properly I expect the community will buy in to the idea."
The idea is especially appealing to Albany Tech, which is in the midst of its "Move on When Ready Program" that encourages dual enrollment at the post-secondary level while students are still in high school.
"A career academy is important because it will help dually enrolled students prepare for college course work and stay connected to support people as they move quickly through the post-secondary level. It will also certainly help boost our enrollment numbers," Parker said.
While Mosely would not point fingers as to why the proposal failed in 2012, he said funding and the lack of an agreement on the structure of the academy's governance board were the major issues.
Mosely said he will present a reworked charter application during a called meeting of the board next month. That application will contain a $3.5 million grant application and a restructuring of the academy's governing board. However, the proposed location of the academy — at Southside Middle School — could be sticking point to some members of the community.
"We have two options on the table right now, but our recommendation to the board will be that the academy be housed at Southside," Mosely said. "The most obvious and glaring reason is that it is adjacent to Albany Tech and our youngsters can walk to and from the two campuses and we can have programs at both places. Now, to ensure that the Southside community is on board with this, I'm also recommending that we build a new middle school in that school zone. We will build it with money coming from the next SPLOST (special-purpose local-option sales tax).
"Another option is we can sell that property to Albany Tech and we can apply those funds to a new school. It would mean temporarily housing those students somewhere else. Either way, it's going to take some money to bring that Southside school up to speed."
Mosely add that in addition to a new middle school, the plan would provide educational opportunities for children and economic development for the community.
"That's a winner for everybody, in my estimation, and I do think the board will be unanimous in that decision, but I can't speak for them," he said. "And let me make this clear, these are our recommendations. The final recommendation will come from the Board of Education. We work for them. The state Department of Education is behind us because they want this to happen."
The other possible hurdle in the plan is the makeup of the academy's governance board. Mosely said the board would have as few as nine or as many as 11 members.
"Yes, we could go to 11 members, but the bottom line is that is going to be representation of the entire community," Mosely said. "I cannot emphasize that too much. It was a stumbling block before. It shouldn't have happened and making the right calls would have prevented that. We will not make that mistake again."
Now the team is working in a short period of time to get the application filed in late July.
"We are working under a rigid time line. We have to have the application to the state by Aug. 1, so we'll have to work quickly but we have every reason to believe we can pull it off," Mosely said.
See the original story @ ALBANY HERALD