By Fletcher Word
The Truth Editor
“These kids are getting regional and worldly experience,” said Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romules Durant, EdD, at the conclusion of a morning’s tour of the school district’s magnet schools. And if the kids who conducted the tours that day of the magnet schools are any indication, they are enjoying that experience immensely.
The magnet school tour began at 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5, as 79 visitors climbed aboard three buses to visit the Aerospace and Natural Science Academy of Toledo, the Toledo Pre-Medical and Health Science Academy and the Toledo Technology Academy of Engineering.
Last week’s bus riders included a number of Toledo elected officials along with school board and staff members from public school districts around Ohio – Dayton, Akron, Cincinnati, Claveland-area districts, as well as school districts in northwest Ohio.
The four-hour tour concluded with lunch at TPS headquarters on Summit Street and a wrap up by Durant on what students in the district’s magnet schools have accomplished and what the plans are for future expansion.
The first stop for Bus 1 was the Aviation Center of the Aerospace & Natural Science Academy of Toledo. The Aerospace campus is located, appropriately enough, at the Eugene F. Krantz Toledo Express Airport and 240 students are enrolled at the campus.
The students have the opportunity to achieve industry-recognized credentials in high-demand fields immediately after high school while also earning college credits.
Students led the visitors through the campus explaining not only what they are learning but also how airplanes work. “I love to do mechanics and see how planes work,” said Tito Montoya, a junior at the school.
Student Quinn Hanifin already has completed 80 hours towards his pilot’s license – 20 hours of solo flight. Quinn plans to obtain a commercial license and become an aerial firefighter in Idaho.
The visitors were treated to an assortment of small airplanes that students use to learn flight procedures and airplane maintenance along with engines and control tower boards.
After the visit to the Aviation campus, the bus riders were treated to a “drive by” of the Commercial Driver’s License Program (CDL) which will be housed at Rogers High School.
As Durant explained, the school district, along with many other districts in the country, is facing a school bus driver shortage. The answer? Train their own.
The site already has 148 buses on site which are being converted from diesel to propane. When all the buses are converted, said Durant, the school district will realize savings of $1 million annually. The students will be able to earn licenses to drive buses and/or large trucks through a comprehensive 200-hour program including 56 hours of classroom instruction and 144 hours focused on range and road training. They will be ready for such careers immediately upon graduation.
The next stop on the magnet tour was at the Natural Science Academy, located next to the Toledo Botanical Gardens – and with good reason. The Academy and the Gardens are quite complementary.
The Natural Science Academy offers students – about 240 of them in grades seven through 12 – three courses of study: animal science, wildlife and sustainability, and urban agriculture. Once again students led the way and, once again, their mastery of the subject matter was impressive.
Carla, Abby and Dayvonna led the visitors through the sites where small animals, sea creatures and plants were cared for by the students who benefit from such hands-on experiences.
The animal science course is offered in collaboration with institutions such as the Toledo Zoo and Aquarium. The wildlife and sustainability course prepares students for careers in environmental preservation with internships with organizations like the City of Toledo and Toledo Metroparks. The urban agriculture course immerses students in sustainable food sources and prepares them for careers in greenhouse management, small livestock management and hydroponic vegetable production.
Another “drive by” was in order after the bus was boarded. The riders stopped by the new location of Toledo Early College High School on the University of Toledo campus. At TECHS students may begin taking college courses during the second semester of their eighth grade year and can graduate with associate’s degrees before they receive their high school diplomas.
The drive by included a stop at the Scott Park campus which has been acquired by TPS to be converted into a state-of-the-art campus featuring residential housing for faculty, staff and community, high school through higher education through on-site partnerships with UT and Owens Community College and a blended campus of TPS students and adult learners.
The next stop on the public magnet tour was the former Devilbiss High School which now houses the Toledo Pre-Medical & Health Science Academy and the Toledo Technology Academy of Engineering.
Students at the pre-med school led their visitors through the three primary disciplines of pre-med, kinesiology and nursing. The school currently has an enrollment of 225 students in grades seven through 11.
Once again students led the way and introduced their guests to such marvels as a computerized cadaver machine that enables them to examine the anatomies of actual deceased patients, labs in which they learn to care for patients in care of need and workout facilities where they are able to monitor the progress of those who are in need of physical therapy.
The Toledo Technology Academy of Engineering is the only seven through 12th grade manufacturing and engineering sciences school in the nation and has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report in the top five percent of America’s Best High Schools in 2023.
The school has a five-star rating on the 2023 Ohio School Report Card, a 100 percent graduation rate and graduates who have won admission over the past five years to universities such as Harvard College, Columbia University and Stanford University, along with the University of Toledo’s esteemed College of Engineering.
Student Juan Rogers, who will be headed to The Ohio State University to study computers and electrical engineering, guided the guests through the first part of the TTAoE facility.
While the TTAoE has been operating for more than 25 years, only recently did the school open an electric vehicle center. Students are now introduced to a course in developing an understanding of energy conservation by constructing such vehicles from scratch and also converting vehicles from gasoline powered to electric powered.
The day concluded with an address by Durant who summed up the virtues of the schools and the opportunities they offer the students. “They are getting in airplanes,” he noted of the Aviation Center. That hands-on approach, he would explain, applied to all the magnet schools where the students are working with machines, animals, plants and vehicles.
The student bodies of these magnet schools are not limited to students from Toledo. As Durant stated, they also come from other places as a few families have relocated from places such as West Virginia, Texas and even Jamaica to get their children into such programs. One of the student tour guides the visitors encountered is from Findlay and traveled daily to and from until her family found Toledo relatives this academic year to house her.
More school choice is coming, of course, as the new facility at Scott Park starts construction next year. That site will house a construction and architecture design academy, an education academy and a business academy, along with the residential and recreational facilities that are planned.
All in all, quite an extensive look at what TPS is doing in those extraordinary magnet school sites and an impressive display from well-informed student guides who led the way.
“The best asset we have are our kids,” said James Gault, chief of Educational Development.