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<p>From staff reports</p>
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<p>Chief Instructional Services Officer Mary Stratos, Ed.D., announced at the Beaufort County Board of Education meeting Tuesday, April 20, that the District has been awarded a $12.8 million Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education, to be distributed over five years.</p>
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<p>MSAP grants provide the opportunity to create or replicate evidence-based magnet programs and magnet schools under an approved, required, or voluntary desegregation plan, seeking to reduce, eliminate, or prevent minority group isolation by taking into account socioeconomic diversity.</p>
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<p>“This grant will empower BCSD to increase academic success through educationally challenging and diverse learning environments that inspire all students to achieve their potential,” said Stratos.</p>
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<p>The grant project, named Med-Tech 7, is focused on seven schools in the Beaufort and Whale Branch clusters, each of which will implement evidence-based whole school arts integrated programming through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) curricula.</p>
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<p>The Beaufort Cluster, which includes Mossy Oaks Elementary, Lady’s Island Middle, Beaufort Middle, and Beaufort High, will have a medical magnet theme with specialized Pre-Med and Biomedical Science academies.</p>
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<p>The Whale Branch cluster, which includes Whale Branch Elementary, Whale Branch Middle, and Whale Branch Early College High, will have a technology magnet theme with specialized Cybersecurity, Computer Science, and Network Engineering academies.</p>
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<p>The primary goals of this grant project are to employ recruitment and selection methods that stimulate socioeconomic integration and reduce minority group isolation, increase academic success through an educationally challenging and diverse learning environment that inspires all students to achieve their potential; and to provide high-quality professional learning that empowers educators to excel in practice and the innovative integration of magnet themes.</p>
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<p>“I am very proud and thankful to everyone at BCSD who worked on this grant proposal and made this award a reality,” Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said in a release. “I can’t wait to see the impact these magnet programs are going to have on our students’ academic pursuits, and ultimately their futures.”</p>
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