“We’re really excited to bring the community into the project,” said Stephanie Adams Taylor, director of strategic partnerships at the Dayton Regional STEM School.
The first class of students in grades kindergarten, first, second and fourth will begin in fall 2025, school officials said. The school plans to add third and fifth grade to the school after the first year. Applications will likely be open beginning next January.
There will still be opportunities to apply in middle school and high school since there is more capacity at those grade levels, school officials said. The school already accepts students on a lottery basis, as there isn’t enough room in the school for everyone who applies.
The variety of school options available to Ohio families continues to increase. In addition to traditional public school districts and public charter schools, homeschooling has been on the rise, career tech centers in the region are adding capacity, and the state broadened eligibility for private school vouchers.
The STEM school’s announcement comes at a time when traditional public school enrollment is falling, and charter and private school enrollment is on the rise. In October, a Dayton Daily News analysis found a 4.7% increase in the number of students enrolled at career centers and charter schools compared to October 2022.
The Dayton Regional STEM School isn’t a charter school, but it’s not a traditional public school either. STEM schools have their own designation from the state. They are governed by a local board and overseen by the state.
Robin Fisher, superintendent of the Dayton Regional STEM School, said there was a strategy behind leaving out third and fifth grade for the first year. Next school year will be a planning and training year for the elementary school teachers, and then the school will slowly scale up.
The school will also need to develop a project-based curriculum for elementary school. Fisher said she’s been talking to other schools in Ohio and elsewhere with existing STEM elementary schools. Core skills that elementary students will focus on include early math, technology and science, along with collaboration, communication, presentation and inquiry.
Fisher said the school will be purchasing land nearby to build a new elementary school, though those details have not been finalized. She said the building they are currently in (1724 Woodman Drive on the Kettering-Dayton border) isn’t big enough to add the elementary students.
Fisher said more equitable school funding in the most recent state budget made it feasible for the school to expand into elementary grades.
“We felt that having the K-12 STEM model was important to us from the beginning,” Fisher said. “We just couldn’t make it happen earlier due to funding challenges.”
The independent STEM schools’ funding comes from the state of Ohio, with some additional federal dollars. The schools partner with businesses and higher education institutions to provide education.
The Dayton Regional STEM School is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. It accepts students from anywhere in Ohio on a lottery.
According to Ohio Department of Education and Workforce data, the school had 761 students in grades 6-12 as of last fall. On the 2022-2023 state report card, the school received 4.5 out of 5 stars, significantly above the “meets expectations” score of three stars.
Locally, one other similarly designated STEM school, the Xenia Community STE(A)M School, opened this past August.
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