Here’s what Columbus elementary school’s magnet proposal means for MCSD kids
The Muscogee County School District’s first elementary school with a curriculum focused on engineering will start accepting applications this month if the school board approves the proposal.
The board is scheduled to vote on superintendent David Lewis’ recommendation during its Feb. 15 meeting.
According to the presentation from principal Tujuana Wiggins during the board’s work session Monday, the plan is to convert Downtown Elementary Magnet Academy into a total magnet. That means instead of having an attendance zone along with a magnet program (Core Knowledge), DEMA would implement the Engineering is Elementary curriculum and its enrollment would comprise students who meet the entry requirements — and could live anywhere in Columbus.
Out of MCSD’s 32 elementary schools, the only total magnet is Britt David Magnet Academy, which has an accelerated academic program integrated with technology. BDMA, ranked among the state’s top schools, has a waiting list of applicants.
Incoming kindergartners must pass an entrance exam to be accepted at BDMA. All other incoming students must pass the exam and have academic, attendance and discipline records that meet the school’s standards.
DEMA’s total magnet would have similar criteria, but no entrance exam.
The online application period for all MCSD magnet school programs begins Feb. 17 and ends March 22.
“All students currently zoned for DEMA remain eligible for the magnet and, along with students of parents who work in the downtown area, receive preference,” Lewis told the Ledger-Enquirer in a text message Tuesday.
Students now zoned for DEMA but aren’t accepted to the total magnet — and those who don’t maintain the qualifications — would be assigned to the nearest elementary school, such as Davis or Fox, Lewis said. Special-education students attending DEMA would remain, Wiggins told the board.
When a school has a magnet program but isn’t a total magnet, its enrollment is a mix of students attending there because they are zoned for that school or because they chose that school and met the application requirements.
A magnet program, usually focused on a curriculum with a certain theme, acts like a school within the school, where students typically take their core classes within the magnet program and their electives with the general student population. Schools often use magnet programs to increase the rigor of their curriculum and the diversity of their enrollment.
Twenty-one of MCSD’s 56 schools have magnet programs. Columbus High School (grades 9-12) and Rainey-McCullers School of the Arts (grades 6-12) are the other total magnets in MCSD.
Lewis told the board to expect more recommended changes to MCSD’s magnet menu as his administration assesses their effectiveness.
DEMA’s total magnet would be modeled after A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering in Greenville, S.C., where Lewis visited a few years ago during an intercity trip organized by the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce. Wiggins subsequently visited the school.
When DEMA opened 25 years ago, Wiggins told the board, the premise was that it would attract students whose parents work downtown. The number of students in the attendance zone has declined, she said, after the Booker T. Washington public housing complex was demolished and rebuilt, and the Chase Homes public housing complex is being demolished and rebuilt.
“The city has plans to revitalize the area,” she said. “The attrition in the neighborhood is indeed impacting our enrollment.”
DEMA’s enrollment is approximately 300 students in grades K-5. The plan envisions increasing that to 462, then 560 and 650 in the following school years.
The cost of converting DEMA to a total magnet is projected to be $197,000 in the first year and $192,000 in each of the following two years. That money would pay for adding an engineering specialist, a technology/engineering teacher, instructional supplies and technology, as well as faculty training.
“Our return on investment would be students with strong skills, such as collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, etc.,” Wiggins said.
