Staff writer
USD 397 Superintendent Jerri Kemble will travel to Washington, D.C. this month, where she will join other school officials in seeking legislative support for an i3 Investing in Innovation grant.
The board of education approved the trip April 28 at a special meeting.
When Kemble attended the Apple Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas, in April, she met Nick Trombetta, the chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Charter Cyber School in western Pennsylvania. Serving students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the school offers instruction via online courses and interactive technology.
Trombetta told Kemble about the origin of the Pennsylvania Charter Cyber School in 2000. Originally designed to provide educational services to approximately 50 students from Midland, Penn., the school surprisingly had an initial enrollment of 500. It has grown rapidly since then and ranks high in student achievement. Enrollment is open to any child living in Pennsylvania.
When Kemble told Trombetta about the small Centre school district she oversees, with its dropping enrollment, he suggested that Centre join his school and small districts from 11 other states in applying for an i3 Investing in Innovation grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
The $650 million allocated for the Investing in Innovation initiative is part of the $5 billion that is targeted for school reform in the 2009 stimulus bill.
The grant money would be used to provide the technology for a cyber school.
Kemble said a “brick and click” (onsite and online) cyber school is technologically complicated, but she is excited to explore the possibility that the Centre school district could offer instruction in a variety of subjects that otherwise would not be available to students.