Walterboro Live
by Cindy Crosby
The Colleton County School District hosted a Lunch and Learn Tuesday, February 14, at Colleton County High School during which future plans were unveiled for Cougar New Tech Entrepreneurial Academy (CNT), the Health Science Academy at CCHS and additional project-based learning within the district.
Bells Elementary will become the first elementary school to join the New Tech Network – not only South Carolina, but in the entire southeastern United States.
According to Bells Elementary Principal, Lauren Behie, grades K-5 will begin full collaboration within the New Tech Network in a Learning Lab set to begin in 2017-18. “The beauty of Bells Elementary is that because of its size, we are going to do the full-implementation next year beginning in August,” said Behie. “Our teachers have already been involved in some in-house training to prepare and we have also identified time this summer for direct New Tech training. We are excited.”
Colleton County High School is exploring and considering an expansion to the current medical pathways already being offered to students. The Health Science Academy would expand to include Emergency Medical Technology, Health Informatics and Pharmacy Technology. According to Dr. Melissa Crosby, Principal at Colleton County High School, the additional pathways would likely coincide with the implementation of new curriculum from the South Carolina Department of Education.
“This has the potential to essentially offer open some of the pathways and opportunities to our students so they can step into some of these career roles,” said Dr. Crosby on Tuesday. “I feel very motivated that this is an opportunity for our students to step into these roles.”
Dr. Juliet White, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for Colleton County Schools, stated Colleton County Middle School will implement a New Tech component beginning in 2018-19 with the sixth-grade class and continue the implementation across a three-year period.
Stay-tuned for the complete story from today’s Lunch and Learn in next week’s Press and Standard.