The first day of school at Lexington’s Tates Creek High School Wednesday carried a new meaning. A third Fayette County school now features the academy format.
The new Tates Creek academies cover areas like designing and engineering, medical emergency services and business entrepreneurship.
Fayette Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk says students and teachers are linked up in small learning communities. “You are feeling more connected and you have those positive relationships with students who are interested in the same career that you are and you are learning together,” explained Caulk
Tates Creek High School Principal Marty Mills says the fourth academy, international baccalaureate information technology, the first in Kentucky, offers a curriculum found worldwide. Mills says the medical emergency services program seeks to address an ongoing need. “Based on the workforce data that we reviewed last year, all of us, every high school in Lexington could have the medical academy and we still won’t be producing enough graduates for the future to fill the need for our medical practices here in this area,” said Mills.
Superintendent Caulk says job shadowing is a big part of the academy structure. Academies are currently found at Tates Creek, Bryan Station, and Frederick Douglas High Schools. Caulk believes it’s likely academies could expand to the other three area high schools over time.?
