Angie Garner excited about College and Career Academy’s potential

ALBANY — As the Commodore Conyers College and Career Academy (4C Academy) inches toward an August opening, Angie Gardner is beginning to get excited.

“A lot has changed over the past six months, from marketing, to curricula, to recruiting students, to business and industry giving their input on how they can help the school to produce the work force they need,” Gardner said. “Albany State is ready to jump on board right now. Of course, Albany Tech still has a higher number (390) of Move On When Ready students.

“With the consolation (of Albany State University and Darton State College) complete, 111 MOWR students at Darton will move over to Albany State, increasing their numbers.”

The typical day for students enrolled at the 4C Academy will be half a day at their zoned schools and another half at the academy. There will be two groups of students, including a morning half that will take a pathway course as well as an academic course. The morning group will leave, and another group will come to the academy in the afternoon. The schedule also calls for two 90-minute blocks each for the different groups.

Gardner said she expects 450 ninth- and 10th-graders to arrive in August, with the students choosing a career or academic pathway track as ninth-graders. Some examples of the pathway courses are Information Technology and Health Care.

The idea is to expose the students to different career options at earlier ages. Non-MOWR students will have science and math classes in the second block to help them get ready for MOWR.

“I think the goal of having 450 students here in August is realistic,” Gardner said. “If you break the ninth-grade numbers down, you will see we have five middle schools. If we take 50 from each middle school, that gives us 250 ninth-graders. And if we take 50 10th-graders from each of the four high schools, that would give us the 450. I looked at the numbers and thought they were realistic.”

Gardner’s job is enrollment and curriculum. CEO Chris Hatcher’s job is to keep an open line of communication with business and industry to determine their work force needs.

“Our jobs are different, but I keep my mind on what’s feasible,” Gardner said. “We have three types of kids we are reaching for now: We have our Move on When Ready group, then we have a middle group. These kids have some structure; they are good solid kids, but they don’t have their minds set and need a little help. Then we have a group of hands-on kids who may not want to go to college right now.

“When I paint that picture and look at it, I think the 50 (students each) from the middle and high schools is very reasonable.”

Currently the 4C is occupying half of Southside Middle School. Phase II will see the other half of the school renovated by the beginning of the 2018-19 school year. Dougherty County School System officials are still hashing out where to relocate Southside’s students.

“We hope to add another 400 student or so by the start of the 2018-19 school year,” Gardner said. “Now that’s a lot of kids to move, but you have to remember we only have our kids for two half-day groups, so it will balance out the numbers. The other thing is, as we are rolling every year, we will add a new 9th-grade cohort, and we will have a continuum to follow. We’ll push kids through that way.”

There is also the possibility the DCSS could create a ninth-grade bridge school, which would be a fertile recruiting ground for the academy.

“I have actually dreamed about that,” Gardner said. “If the career academy does what it’s supposed to do, I believe every ninth-grader should touch it. What it does is provide an opportunity to explore. During the first semester, kids should explore their career options, especially for those who haven’t thought about the future, because now they will be in a position to think about it.

“To know where you want to go by the 10th or 11th grades, it will keep kids in school. When I think about it, I get all excited.”

The bottom line is, officials say, this isn’t the traditional vocational/technology school.

“This isn’t your typical vo-tech school,” Gardner said. “This is a college and a career academy. It all depends on the pathway that you choose, and every pathway we offer can lead you to management.”