$3.1M grant means College and Career Academy coming to Chattahoochee County

The Chattahoochee County School District has been awarded a $3.1 million grant from the Technical College System of Georgia to establish the Chattahoochee Valley College and Career Academy.

When it opens next school year, it will be one of 40 College and Career Academies created in Georgia over the past decade and the closest to Columbus. Troup County opened one last year.

The mission of the academies is to prepare students for the workforce through relevant secondary and postsecondary career training. Academy students will receive instruction from ChattCo teachers and Columbus Technical College and Columbus State University faculty as well as local business and industry experts, according to a release from the Techical College System of Georgia.

“Georgia’s students deserve every opportunity for academic success – and with the creation of these new College and Career Academies, we are one step closer to ensuring all students have access to these world-class learning institutions,” said Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who started the state initiative, in the news release. “These school systems have embraced innovation in the classroom, bringing business and community leaders together to truly unleash their students’ potential to build a workforce second to none.”

The local academy will be open to all Chattahoochee County high school students and some middle school students, ChattCo superintendent David McCurry told the Ledger-Enquirer.

“Once the academy is in full operation, we hope to build partnerships with our bordering rural counties,” he said. “(The academy) desires to not only benefit Cusseta/Chattahoochee County but the entire valley region.”

The Chattahoochee Valley College and Career Academy will be on the campus of Chattahoochee County Middle/High School, but it will have its own chief executive officer, who will work with the principal and report directly to the superintendent, McCurry said.

The academy is scheduled to partially open next school year for 150-175 students in existing classroom space, McCurry said. More planning is needed before starting construction on the labs, he said, which will allow the academy to instruct more students.

“Our goal is for every student in our high school (approximately 420) to have access to the academy,” McCurry said. “We also want to allow eighth-graders to go into the academy wing for exploratory classes, just to introduce them to the variety of career pathways.”

A portion of the grant will be used to renovate classrooms. The other portion will be used to build labs for various career pathway training, such as manufacturing, welding, construction or automotive, McCurry said.

“The career pathways offered will be based on the needs of employers in the region as determined by the academy’s board of directors,” he said. “… Our goal is that every student graduates with at least one career pathway, preferably multiple career pathways.”

The creation of the local academy is the result of nearly two years of research, planning and applying by the 27-member steering committee McCurry appointed. The committee will appoint a nine-member board to oversee the academy, which will be a charter school. The board will include representatives from employers in Cusseta, Columbus and Fort Benning, and it will work with the Chattahoochee County Board of Education, McCurry said.

“From the beginning, I’ve been so amazed at the overwhelming support and guidance from our postsecondary partners and business partners,” he said. “I’m particularly thankful for the support of my local board of education and the Cusseta community. Since day one, they’ve all been behind the effort.

“The No. 1 goal of this project is to provide relevant job skill training for students and adults in our community and provide better employment opportunities and higher wages. Long-range, we want this to be a mechanism for bringing economic growth to Cusseta/Chattahoochee County.”

Asked how much operating the academy will cost and how that expense will be funded, McCurry said, “Other than additional utilities, the operating costs should be minimal. As the academy grows, additional staff may be required in the future. That will be a good problem to have.”

Academy students may earn college credit in addition to high school credit through the Move On When Ready program, McCurry said.

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "$3.1M grant means College and Career Academy coming to Chattahoochee County."