11/20/13 The Plymouth Community School Corporation invites the community to celebrate the opening of four New Tech schools this Sunday, November 24 from 2 to 5 p.m. with a Community Open House. The Open Houses will include the three new Project Based Learning schools as well as the ITAMCO Manufacturing Education School Service Center (IMESSC) at the high school. Washington Discovery Academy had a successful opening last year, and school officials are looking forward to another great event.

 

The public is welcome to tour the facilities, chat with faculty and staff, and see first-hand how New Tech will transform education in Marshall County. Visitors will also have the opportunity to meet students and see their exciting and innovative projects, which will be on display at each school. Students will also be present at the four ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

 

The ceremonies begin at 2:15 p.m. at the Innovation Academy at Riverside Intermediate School, 906 East Baker Street.  The Innovation Academy acts as one academy with Lincoln Junior High and as an extension of the Weidner School of Inquiry.  The former library area has been repurposed and there are now 100 students in the 5th grade and 100 in the 6th grade. 

    

At 2:45 p.m.a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at the Innovation Academy at Lincoln Junior High School, 220 North Liberty Street.  At this school they repurposed the former library area.  At the Junior High there are 100 7th and 100 8th graders in the academy.  The student limits are consistent with the small-school research done by Bill and Melinda Gates.  The small school concept gives students the advantages of programs larger schools are able to offer, but the ability to establish meaningful educational relationships with other students and faculty like one would get in a small school. 

 

The ribbon cutting ceremony at the ITAMCO Manufacturing Education and

School Service Center is scheduled for 3:15 p.m.    The IMESSC building is  

located at 701 Berkley Street, next to the Plymouth Community School Corporation  Building.  This repurposed area now houses the transportation, security, maintenance, and technology department on one end of the building and the other hold the alternative school, M.C. Adult Education and the ITAMCO Manufacturing Education Center.     

 

 

The final ribbon cutting ceremony on Sunday will be at 3:45 p.m. at the Weidner    School of Inquiry at Plymouth High School, #1 Big Red Drive.  Visitors should use Door #7 at the backside of the high school where the red columns are across from football stadium.

 

 WSOI is 22,141 square feet in the former auto shop and pool area.  There are approximately 200 students enrolled as freshmen and sophomores.

 

The school is affiliated with New Tech Technologies, originally headquartered in Napa, CA.  Today, New Tech is owned by Knowledge Works, based out of Cincinnati. 

 

This is the community’s opportunity to see how the Plymouth Community School Corporation has stepped to the head of the line offering project based learning from kindergarten through high school…..one of only two school corporations in the United States to offer this.