The Early College @ Jones is steadily taking shape, according to officials who have been working on the plan for the Hall County School District.
Dr. Laurie Ecke gave school board members a quick update on the program at their regular meeting Monday night. Ecke said students are becoming more excited as they learn how the program will work.
"I think it's getting exciting at the student level where there are some kids - and this was really our goal - who may have thought 'Am I going to college or am I not?' who are now saying 'Well, maybe I am and maybe I'm even going to do that next year,'" said Ecke.
The idea behind the program, which was introduced in September 2015, is to give Hall County high school students another option for taking college-level courses. The Early College program allows students to take the classes on a Hall County school property - the former Jones Elementary School campus in Chicopee.
Ecke, the Assistant Director of Innovative and Advanced Programs for the Hall County School District, said both the University of North Georgia and Lanier Technical College have partnered with the District to offer college level courses starting with Fall Semester 2016. She outlined some of the initial offerings for Early College students.
"English 1101, College Algebra, Psychology - those will be offered through UNG - and English 1101 and College Algebra will also be offered through Lanier Tech," said Ecke. Speech classes will also be offered. All of those classes would transfer for traditional college credits.
Rhonda Samples, Assistant Director-Career Tech for Hall County Schools, also told the Board that certificate programs for Design & Media Production, Game & Innovation Design and Medical Front Office Assistant would be among the offerings.
Samples said a parent meeting about the Early College @ Jones was rescheduled from earlier in the month to this Thursday, February 25 at School District Headquarters on Green Street. The meeting begins at 6 p.m.
School Superintendent Will Schofield said once that meeting takes place, then school board members will be able get more details on the numbers of students who might participate in the fall.
"[There's been] great enthusiasm so far with the Early College program," Schofield said. "Probably the most exciting piece to me is that there's hundreds of students that all of a sudden are starting to consider post-secondary [education] for the first time...and they're going to be able to do that while they're still under our wing."
Schofield said the next update on the program will come sometime in March.
