Albany Tech’s Parker pushes Dougherty County career academy

ALBANY — Albany Technical College President Anthony Parker encouraged Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission board members Wednesday morning to support efforts to bring a career academy to the community.

Parker, who also is a member of the EDC board, told board members at the commission’s monthly meeting that they could help by reaching out to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and by attending a reception in Cagle’s honor on April 30 before Albany Tech’s graduation.

“In an economy like ours, we can talk about the disadvantages in Southwest Georgia, or we can do something about it,” Parker said. “This need in our community is too strong to ignore.

“If you believe (a career academy) is a good idea, please support it. If you don’t believe it’s a good idea, talk with me and I’ll try to convince you otherwise.”

Parker said a career academy may be initiated in one of two ways: as a charter school or as part of a charter school system. He noted that the Dougherty County School System was in line to add a career academy in 2012, but it was voted down by the Dougherty School Board at the 11th hour.

“The high school attrition rate in our community is too high,” Parker said. “One of the positives of a career academy is that students who attend have an 87 percent chance of graduating. Career academy students rarely drop out.

“Lt. Gov. Cagle is a huge proponent of career academies, and I’m working to convince him that this community should be considered for funding.”

Also at Wednesday’s EDC meeting, staff gave board members a quick review of its Industry Week Celebration awards, which were handed out at an early-morning breakfast prior to the EDC meeting. Winners were MillerCoors — Global Commerce Award; Thrush Aircraft — Economic Impact Award; Sasco Chemicals — Excellence in Innovation Award, and Central Monitoring — Good Life City Award.

“We celebrate our existing industries all year, but this celebration allows us to shine a spotlight on them,” EDC Vice President Barbara Rivera Holmes said.

Added commission President Justin Strickland: “When industries expand in Albany, that’s the greatest compliment our community can get.”

Board member Chris Hatcher said EDC staff should find ways to maximize usage of videos that were shot as part of the industry awards celebration.

“Those videos are a valuable tool, and we need to figure out a way to best utilize them,” Hatcher said.

Strickland distributed copies of the EDC’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget, which he noted is “relatively unchanged, except the absence of (funding for) the rebranding campaign.” The EDC’s proposed spending plan is for expenditures totaling $750,000.