Tallahassee Community College gears up for STEM charter high school
Six months from now, Tallahassee Community College hopes to have a science, technology, engineering and math — or STEM — charter high school in session on their campus.
“The goal that I have set is absolutely clear. We will start our charter school this coming August,” President Jim Murdaugh said. “Whatever it takes to get that put together is what we’re going to do.”
With August not far off, all hands are on deck at TCC to help reach the goal of being the collegiate charter high school of choice.
Previous coverage: Tallahassee Community College will open its own STEM charter high school
For instance, Dr. Calandra Stringer, TCC's Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, led a "Design Thinking" session at the college last week. Participants included Murdaugh and representatives from various departments.
“I’m looking forward to how this will meet the needs of our local community,” Stringer said. “I’m excited about the opportunity for students; to be able to have their high school and Associate of Science degree at the exact same time is pretty awesome.”
The problem presented to participants was to create a public charter school for grades 9-12 where students will earn an associate's degree in a STEM discipline, which would lead to high-skill and high-wage jobs.
“I am completely amazed at the positive responses I’m hearing throughout the community,” Murdaugh said. “I get stopped in Publix by parents who say how exciting this is that their child will have this new alternative.”
Degrees that are confirmed to be offered include Cybersecurity and Information Technology, with hopes of also offering nursing degrees, among others. Besides the degrees currently offered at TCC, additional programs that fall under STEM would also be available to the charter high school students.
Details about the charter school, such as classes, programs and capacity, are not yet final. The team is reviewing all the ideas and suggestions they received and hope to know which programs will be offered within the charter school in March.
The final plan will be sent to the Florida Department of Education; once the application is submitted, TCC will start advertising and work toward admitting students into classes for August 2022, according to Stringer.
Under state law, TCC won't need approval from the Leon County Schools District to open a charter school.
“We’re going to be great partners,” Stringer said of the district, “and we’ll have the support of the community.”
On Friday, Feb. 25, a TCC team will be sent to Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, to meet with the other four community colleges that will also be opening charter schools: Miami-Dade College, Northwest Florida State College, Santa Fe College and St. Petersburg College.
The college representatives will work on a timeline and explore questions such as how many staff their charter schools will need, how much space will be needed, how transportation to and from the schools would work, and more.
Following this meeting, Murdaugh and the team will be having a retreat on Monday, Feb. 28 to determine next steps.
“I’m just really excited about the opportunity we’re going to be able to give our students and the difference it’s going to make for the community,” Murdaugh said.
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TCC prepares STEM charter high school
