Applications are now being accepted for the Action Plan for Educational Excellence (or APEX) Project steering committee. The 27 members of the steering committee will serve as organizers, neighborhood leaders, and the voice of the community to develop a policy that ensures an excellent education for every student in Hamilton County, said officials.
Committee members representing all nine county commission districts will visit schools, complete training workshops, attend committee meetings, lead community discussions, and drive policy development with input on potential solutions.
“This committee must represent the diversity of identities in our county to be effective, so all are invited to apply,” says Ashley Conrad, UnifiEd director of Policy and Research. “Every citizen of
Hamilton County is qualified to sit on the committee. Their expertise is their own experience living in this community.”
The application is available online at www.unifi-ed.org and in print at UnifiEd’s offices (1609 McCallie Ave.). The application deadline is Aug. 11. Selections will be made the following week, and the committee will serve from September 2017 through February 2018. A stipend will be provided in recognition of committee members’ time and effort.
The APEX Project’s goals are to create a community-developed policy that addresses educational inequities and to push for that policy to be adopted by the school system and county elected officials. The “Action Plan” to accomplish these goals includes gathering diverse input on individuals’ experiences with inequity in the local school system and their ideas for solutions
through facilitated conversations called EdTalks.
Themes will be identified from this input to identify which issues are most pressing to address. Those issues will then be matched with best practice research to find potential solutions. To ensure feedback is gathered from all corners of the county, a mobile interactive exhibit will crowdsource which solutions will be included in the final policy late this year.