NORFOLK, Va. — The energy in Norfolk State University's William P. Robinson Technology Center spills over from student to student. This summer, the university has been the site of a camp for elementary and middle school students, and they are loving it.
The camp provides a glimpse into what the College Partnership Laboratory School or "lab school" that NSU hopes to create could look like. Tiny little robots called bolts spin about on the floor.
"Let's do drive mode!" shouts an exuberant Stuart Anderson, who teaches computer science at NSU and is a camp instructor.
Each kid uses an iPad to control the bolt's movements, which mimics the engineering behind a robot vacuum.
"Through play, children really learn a lot about the world and the problems of the world and how to solve them through play," said NSU Education Dean, Dr. Denelle Wallace-Alexander, who is co-chairing the effort to bring a lab school to campus.
NSU is one of at least 18 colleges and universities that received $200,000 planning grants from the state to draw up proposals on what their lab school vision. NSU wants to create a pre-k through second-grade school located right on campus.
"We're in the process now of identifying and solidifying partnerships with P-12 schools which will be our district, so we're trying to meet with school districts to get them to partner with us," Wallace-Alexander said, adding partnerships with area museums and NASA Langley will also be pursued.
The proposal will be submitted to the state in the fall and wait for approval from the State Board of Education. If all goes well, the school should open in the fall of 2024.
There is enthusiasm over plans for Old Dominion University's two lab school proposals. One school would be located in Chesapeake, the other in Newport News.
"For us, we're treating this as community-based lab schools, which means we're going to be housing them primarily in the school division themselves," said ODU Educational Foundations and Leadership Professor, Karen Sanzo.
Students in Newport News will spend a lot of time in the Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab located in the city's southeast community. Their education will be STEM-focused in the maritime field. The lab is in the process of being converted into a technological hub.
The lab schools are designated as public. Last year, the General Assembly appropriated $100 million to launch the schools. According to the Department of Education website, $5 million will be used for planning grants, $20 million go to start-up grants for the schools that are approved and $75 million will be for per-pupil operating grants.
The lab school idea -- a Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin initiative -- is not without its controversy.
Democratic lawmakers worry funding will be at the expense of already existing public schools in need. There is also pushback on private institutions applying for state money for lab schools.
After the first lab school, CodeRVA, was approved last week, Virginia Education Association President James Fedderman issued a scathing rebuke of the development:
“All students in Virginia deserve to be funded and supported like those at CodeRVA, but that is not the reality. While Governor Youngkin’s pet program lavishes more than $6 million in additional funding to an already well-funded school, nearby Overby-Sheppard Elementary School, part of Richmond Public Schools, receives a fraction of this student funding and has the 7th-highest poverty rate of all public schools in Virginia.
"Virginia is one of the richest states in the country, yet we spend less per student in state funding than states with fewer resources, such as Alabama and West Virginia. Showering one school with huge amounts of state and local funding might look nice and distract some of the public, but parents of kids in other public schools want and deserve adequate funding for their students, too. Let’s work to fund all our public schools like we fund our lone lab school.”
Youngkin called the announcement evidence of delivering on a promise to restore excellence in public schools.
"This is the first step in giving parents new options for their kids to learn in innovative and creative ways and break the status quo of a one-size-fits-all education.”