WHAT’S NEXTDistrict officials and school board members will continue to meet with business and higher education leaders. The district must submit a letter of intent by Oct. 21 to apply for the grant. Applications are due by Dec. 30, and grant winners will be announced in January.
Hamilton County will move forward with the grant application to open a new science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, school. But school board members caution that more details need to be ironed out before committing to the project.
School board members met with district officials, business leaders and representatives of Chattanooga State Community College and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in a work session Thursday evening. Officials discussed an opportunity to receive a nearly $2 million grant for a STEM school with the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network.
The network, a partnership of the Tennessee Department of Education and the Battelle Memorial Institute, an independent research and development organization, is modeled after a similar program in Ohio and funded by Tennessee’s federal Race to the Top grant.
The network is considering funding one school in East Tennessee and another in West Tennessee — Nashville and Knoxville already operate network STEM schools. But to qualify, Hamilton County Schools would have to partner with higher education institutions, local businesses and philanthropists.