At its June meeting, the Tallahassee State College (TSC) District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a charter school application submitted by Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) to open the Innovation Academy of Excellence, a new public charter middle school. The approved application will now be submitted to the Florida Department of Education for final authorization.
The Innovation Academy of Excellence, which will be located on the TSC campus, is expected to open in August of this year. It will serve students in grades six through eight with a strong STEM focus, integrating ethical artificial intelligence tools and personalized learning plans. The middle school will offer high-performing eighth-grade students the opportunity to engage in dual enrollment with Tallahassee Collegiate Academy (TCA), providing early access to high school and college coursework.
“The Board is thrilled to approve the Innovation Academy of Excellence, which exemplifies our commitment to high standards, academic innovation, and student opportunity,” said Karen Moore. “Building from grades six through dual enrollment, this school will not only challenge students but also expand their pathways for success in college and career.”
CSUSA, under the governance of Renaissance Charter School, Inc., LLC, will oversee daily operations. Students will gain early exposure to college-level coursework through dual enrollment with Tallahassee Collegiate Academy and will have access to career and technical education (CTE) pathways in high-demand fields such as cybersecurity, digital technology, and health sciences. This alignment with TCA and Tallahassee State College creates a seamless educational pipeline that prepares students for future academic and career success.
“We are very excited to be part of this groundbreaking approach to delivering educational options in an innovative way that meets the ever-changing needs of families,” said Jon Hage, CEO of Charter Schools USA (CSUSA). “This school is an important model for the future where the entire educational journey has built-in flexibility to meet students where they are and guide them in a way that allows them to meet all their goals academically, socially, and emotionally. Joining forces with Tallahassee State College and Tallahassee Collegiate Academy provides a unique early workforce development program using AI, project and place-based learning. We are preparing for the future in real time, preparing students as our world continues to change. We are grateful to the Florida Department of Education for their unwavering support of this forward-thinking endeavor.”
Tallahassee State College Approves Groundbreaking Charter School Proposal added by Staff on
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What could go wrong? First of all, where will this new AI charter school be housed? In one of TSC’s mold filled classrooms? The college faculty teach in rooms equipped with loud dehumidifiers and signs that warn against turning them off due to “Poor air quality.” Also, I am not seeing how training eighth graders to use AI instead of working with them on their reading and math skills is innovative.This generation spends more time looking at screens than any other.Charter Schools USA is a for profit enterprise which ran the failed Renaissance School. You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.
More importantly, John Hage is connected to the Heritage Foundation, a right wing instititution. See this excerpt from “The Proselytizers and the Privatizers
How religious sectarian school voucher extremists made useful idiots of the charter movement” by Katherine Stewart November 8, 2017 .”Charter Schools USA founder Jonathan Hage is a former staffer at the Heritage Foundation, and has a pattern of political giving to Republican politicians. He was rewarded by Florida Governor Rick Scott with a seat on Scott’s education transition team; from his perch, Hage reportedly influenced changes to state law intended to make it easier for charter chains to open new schools. Charter Schools USA is presently expanding into North Carolina, aided by such pro-charter politicians as the state’s two Republican senators, Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, both of whom have been recipients of DeVos’s political donations.”
TSC is fully aligned with the right wing at this point. So much for public education.