Botanical beauty
Support grows for magnet school program
Broward School Board member Nora Rupert, as well as Coconut Creek and Margate officials and parents of hundreds of local students, are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to ensure the creation of the Creek Technical Academy Magnet Program at Coconut Creek High School. The magnet school could affect students from Coconut Creek, Margate and North Lauderdale.
A few weeks after Margate officials unanimously approved a resolution supporting the creation of the magnet program, their counterparts in Coconut Creek did the same. Rupert said she is now planning to seek the support of the North Lauderdale City Commission.
The School Board will vote on the proposal in February; and many city officials and parents are expected to attend the meeting. People in the community are also busy conducting a petition drive to express support for the proposal.
“I will have people sign the petition; we will do everything we can to get people there,” Coconut Creek Mayor Becky Tooley told Rupert after the city commission had approved the resolution. “I want to see neighborhood kids go to neighborhood schools ... There will now be an incentive for kids to do better.”
A cautiously optimistic Rupert said that the proposal had gained the approval of the School Board’s magnet committee. “I’d rather have a 9-0 vote, but I will take a 5-4 vote. It is not my recommendation or a city’s recommendation; it is the school board staff’s recommendation ... We are closer than we have ever been.”
The plans for facility improvements at the school, including upgrading the building, are in place, Rupert said, replying to a question from Coconut Creek Commissioner Mikkie Belvedere. “The majority of the bond projects that were to start in the 2015-2016 school year are behind.”
The creation of the magnet program and the facility improvements are expected to happen simultaneously. “This is the right time,” Rupert said. “We are getting all the facility improvements through the SMART fund; having the curriculum initiation (at the school) is two things happening at exactly the right time.”
The creation of the magnet program, which is modeled on the program at Atlantic Technical High School, will benefit students in Coconut Creek, Margate and North Lauderdale. Many students from these cities are on the waiting list every year for Atlantic Technical High School and Pompano High School.
The proposed program will offer 27 career dual enrollment program choices and programs in fields such as architecture and construction, health sciences, business management and administration, information technology, as well as hospitality and tourism. In the medical sector, students will be able to select from programs that include dental assisting, veterinary assisting and EKG technician.