Durham, NC – The North Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development has selected the City of Medicine Academy (CMA) to receive a 2011 Lighthouse Award. CMA has been designated a School of Distinction by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and is part of the North Carolina New Schools Project. CMA students are able to attend the local community college to take transfer courses, begin professional certifications such as Med Tech and complete college courses online. This school has been incredibly successful by every measure. Since its 2008 inception as the independent City of Medicine Academy, the school has produced a 20% increase in student proficiency.
In 2008, the Durham Public Schools Board of Education supported an effort to make City of Medicine Academy an independent high school. Previously, CMA existed as a program within one of the district’s high schools for 14 years. The transition: In 2007, Durham County voters supported a bond that funded a new state-of-the-art facility adjacent to Durham Regional Hospital. Since 2008, the school was housed in a temporary facility. The new school, which is set to open in 2011, will serve approximately 350 students. The students will graduate from the academy well-equipped to complete post-secondary programs or gain professional certifications and head directly into the workforce.
CMA helps to fill the health care industry’s need for a quality workforce along with the community’s need for thriving, cutting-edge health care facilities staffed by highly skilled and competent employees who live and work in the Durham community.
The Lighthouse Award is presented annually to five schools that have furthered student achievement in innovative and creative ways and have nurtured a positive and supportive school and community climate.
The award presentation will be made at the NCASCD Annual Conference at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011 in the Calloway-Oakley Ballroom of the Carolina Hotel Conference Center in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The City of Medicine Academy will receive a plaque and a check for $500.
###
CONTACT: Tahira Stalberte, Chief Communications Officer
919-560-9112 (office)
919-358-8876 (cell)
Jeff Nash, Communications Specialist
919-560-2602 (office)
