Community leaders have broken ground in Flint, Mich., for a charter school on the grounds of the Flint Cultural Center.
The Flint Cultural Center Academy, funded by a $35 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, will serve about 650 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is scheduled to open in 2019-20.
The school intends to offer students daily activities and programs at the Cultural Center institutions — Flint Institute of Arts, Flint Institute of Music, Flint Public Library, Longway Planetarium, Sloan Museum and The Whiting.
The foundation says in a news release that the 78,000-square-foot school will feature 37 classrooms, a gymnasium, cafeteria and kitchen. An adjacent exhibit and learning space will offer three multipurpose classrooms and provide students and staff with direct access to the Flint Institute of Music and Sloan Museum.
The $35 million grant will cover the costs of designing, constructing and outfitting the school, as well as making related improvements to the Cultural Center campus.
“Our goal for the Flint Cultural Center Academy is to engage students in science and the fine and performing arts in ways they otherwise might not encounter,” says Mark Sinila, chief operating officer of the Flint Cultural Center Corporation. “Those experiences will reflect and reinforce the learning taking place in the classroom, and the result will be a cohesive, engaging and stimulating educational experience.”
Sinila says that in the school's first year it will enroll up to 300 students from kindergarten through the fifth grade. Additional grades will be added in subsequent years.
