At the time James McCurry was interviewed for his current position as Superintendent of Chattahoochee County Schools, ten weeks old seemed almost unimaginably youthful to be enrolled as a scholar, but in the Chattahoochee County School System—its motto being "Cradle to Career"—this idea is not so far-fetched.
This past Thursday, McCurry—along with seventy other state and local officials, including the Lieutenant Governor, State Superintendent, Georgia State Senators and Representatives, the President of Columbus Technical College, and the President of AT&T Georgia—gathered at Chattahoochee County Middle/High School to celebrate the school system's motto, "Cradle to Career." McCurry, the school's newest Superintendent, has had a distinct interest in the school's motto ever since he first applied for the position in 2014. Realizing the needs of students to shift away from the archaic, "one-size-fits-all, 1960’s educational model," as stated by Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, Chattahoochee County decided on September 3 to officially join the thirty-four other College and Career Academies in Georgia.
Pondering upon the idea, McCurry said, "Literally cradle, but now we're looking at the idea of literally career."
In 2011, Governor Nathan Deal signed into law Senate Bill 161, which defined and established an initiative to create College and Career Academies around the State of Georgia. As defined by the bill, a College and Career Academy is a "...specialized charter school established by a partnership which demonstrates a collaboration between business, industry, and community stakeholders to advance workforce development between one or more local boards of education, a private individual, a private organization, or a state or local public entity in cooperation with one or more post-secondary institutions." What's more is that students who graduate from College and Career Academies graduate high school with an Associate's Degree or a certification in their designated field of study, with no debt.
"I am committed to providing every student in Georgia access to a College and Career Academy," said Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle. "Their proven success at providing our children the relevant, job-related skills they need is more important than ever in the 21st Century economy." He continued, “I want to thank AT&T for their investment in the Chattahoochee County community and I am excited about what a College and Career Academy can do for this region.”
Cagle is a proud champion of the College and Career Academy initiative across Georgia, stating, "Student interest and enrollment far exceed expectations; students see the relevance in what they are learning, and graduation rates are excelling any preset expectations."
President Beth Shiroishi, of AT&T Georgia, presented $10,000 to the school system to prepare an application to create a College and Career Academy in Chattahoochee County, which will serve students in Chattahoochee, Marion, Stewart, and Webster counties. "At AT&T, again, we do understand that our future lies in our workforce, and that is changing every day. That means an entirely new skill set for our current employees and for our future employees. With the funding provided today, community leaders can begin a partnership in Chattahoochee County that will position students to compete in a global marketplace."
Richard Woods, Superintendent of Georgia's Schools, proclaimed, "For us at the Department of Education, we're here to serve." He re-affirmed, "We're here to make sure that you have the resources, the personnel, and the supplies that allow you to move forward. That's our commitment, and we're trying to help kids out. We'll be working with the department of labor to determine what are the needs in your region, so that we can better supply and better offer courses that meet your needs and within the community. That's something we're looking at now; business are creating classes for our kids. To get these kids there, we've got to get them ready."
"Our kids are hungry," said Principal James "Jim" Sims, of Chattahoochee County Middle/High School, "and they need the opportunity. If we can be a part of this and give them exposure to the things they need, it's just going to be phenomenal."
Indeed, students in Chattahoochee County and the surrounding area are hungry. With the labor force declining by nearly 1.1 per cent in the past decade, paired with the 22 per cent of the population that have a high school diploma or equivalent and the 16 per cent of the population that have a four-year degree, the four-county region is in desperate need of a revitalization. The College and Career Academy initiative will do just that. From the cradle to a career, students in Chattahoochee County will be prepared to tackle the 21st century marketplace and contribute positively to their communities.
Chattahoochee County, if approved, is slated to receive $3,000,000 to construct the proposed academy and $150,000 to finance start-up costs. By 2020, Cagle has the ambitious plan of implementing this system state-wide.
Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article33757449.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article33757449.html#storylink=cpy
Dustin J. Chandler-Hudgins and Madison L. Shillig,
Editors
Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article33757449.html#storylink=c
