The U.S. Department of Education is awarding nearly $15 million to four Wake County magnet schools. This is the largest single competitive grant Wake County Schools has ever received. The Magnet Assistance Program is intended to help desegregate public schools by drawing students to schools with innovative curricula. The four schools will share the funding over five years to develop STEM-related themes.
The four schools awarded are Bugg, Lincoln Heights Elementary, Millbrook Magnet Elementary, and Southeast Raleigh High School. Lincoln Heights is a new magnet school and the others will develop new themes.
"The themes that we wrote for those schools are pretty innovative, new themes that can attract people and reduce the socioeconomic isolation," said Beth Cochran, Wake County Schools' senior director of magnet and curriculum enhancement programs.
The grant will pay for training and technology to build programming geared toward engineering, computer science and the environment.
Parents in Wake County can submit applications for their children to attend magnet schools in January for the upcoming school year. Wake County Schools is holding a fair with more information about magnet schools on November 4 at Southeast Raleigh High School.
