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West Town to become newest magnet school

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — West Town Elementary School will get a much longer name when it becomes a magnet school beginning with the 2008-2009 school year.

The school will become West Town Elementary Pre-Engineering, Mathematics and Technology Magnet School for the next school year as it becomes Dougherty County’s newest magnet school, Principal Alene Pringle said Friday.

As a magnet school, West Town will focus on those three educational areas, though not at the expense of other subjects, Pringle said. Dougherty County School System officials approached the school last year about becoming a magnet school.

“They asked us would we like to do pre-engineering, math and science,” Pringle said before listing half a dozen places, including a magnet school conference in Las Vegas, that school officials visited for ideas to implement as the new magnet school.

Part of the transition into a magnet school will include the installation of about five work stations, or labs, where children will learn teamwork, communication and cooperative experiences, she said. All of the school’s nearly 400 children will be scheduled to visit the lab from 40 to 60 minutes a day.

The goal of a magnet school is to provide specialized instruction for students who are interested in pursuing a career in the school’s specialization, Pringle said.

She stressed throughout an interview Friday, as she took a reporter through the school, that students would still receive quality instruction in the nonspecialized areas, like language and elective classes.

Also as part of the change, the school will get an updated computer lab, she said.

The labs — which will include robots and utilize energy, engineering and technological experiments — will give students a very hands-on approach to learning, Pringle said.

“They don’t have too much lecture. They’re trying to solve their own problems,” she said.

Students who live in West Town’s school district will not need to apply to attend the school, though students outside that district will need to follow an application process, she said.

The parents of students wishing to apply to the school can leave a completed application in the school’s main office at 1113 University Street until June 11 or after July 16, Pringle said.

Applying students must have a good attendance record, satisfactory conduct and two teacher recommendations, according to the application. West Town is the feeder school for Southside Middle School, which in turn feeds students into Monroe High School.

Parent involvement is also strongly encouraged, the applications states.

The labs are expected to be installed while school is out for the summer, Pringle said.

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