Fulton County Schools is counting on an academic and building overhaul of McClarin High School to keep students from dropping out.
The College Park campus is one of two alternative schools that serve Fulton students who have fallen behind or struggled in a traditional learning environment.
A roughly $25 million renovation will be used to update classrooms, add flexible lab spaces and spruce up the exterior. When refurbished, it will reopen as a “middle college,” that allows students to get job training through a district partnership with a technical college while taking an alternative way to earn their high school diploma.
“How can we graduate students who are ready to truly pursue their chosen path?” said Gyimah Whitaker, deputy chief academic officer. “I think that this middle college is going to do that.”
The school will offer an “option B” route to a diploma, introduced in Georgia several years ago as part of sweeping education legislation. Students take fewer core academic classes in subjects such as math and English but leave with two technical college certificates, which can lead to a technical college diploma or associate’s degree.
Officials said the middle college could enroll more than 400 students.
The district is pursuing a partnership with Atlanta Technical College to offer programs such as automotive and avionics technology, welding, early childhood care and various technology and computer-related fields.
Jennifer Phinney, a dual enrollment program specialist with the Georgia Department of Education, said the option is designed for students who don’t want to go to a four-year college and who want to get a good-paying job after high school.
“‘Option B’ is really for those kids who are planning to go directly to work and generally are probably already working,” she said. “If I have a student who it’s unlikely (that) they’re going to graduate, this is a fantastic option.”
Fulton’s four-year graduation rate for the class of 2021 was 87.7%, slightly higher than the statewide average. McClarin’s rate was roughly half that, at 42.2%.
Superintendent Mike Looney told board members last fall that the graduation rate needs to improve.
“We have to meet the demand of the workforce and give students a relevant education that’s meaningful to them, and what we have been doing hasn’t been working,” he said at the time.
Starting next school year, when major construction at McClarin is expected to be underway, students will move over to the high school they are zoned to attend. The renovation could take a year or two to complete.
To support the needs of those nontraditional students, the district is working with Banneker, Creekside, Langston Hughes, Tri-Cities and Westlake high schools to launch specialized “in-school academies.” Those programs may offer a mix of online, self-paced and face-to-face instruction, Whitaker said.
Officials expect to serve up to 30 students at each southern Fulton County high school. Two teachers and a school counselor will support the programming at each site and help students catch up on credits.
Nontraditional students on Fulton’s north end will continue to attend Independence High School in Roswell.
The city of College Park owns the McClarin facility. The Fulton County school board recently authorized a 50-year ground lease to continue to use the site in exchange for maintaining and improving it.
College Park Mayor Bianca Motley Broom said she’s focused on making sure local businesses provide input on the new middle college so that students have jobs waiting for them when they graduate.
“If we can get them locked in with great-paying jobs, they’ll establish roots here. They won’t have to look elsewhere,” she said. “I think it makes a ton of sense for our students and just the future of our workforce in the south metro.”
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