Floyd County School of Innovation to launch this fall

FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) -The Floyd County School of Innovation is giving students an opportunity for hands-on focused education.

The School will serve students from Prestonsburg High School, Betsy Layne High School, and Floyd Central High. It will launch this fall.

Three different pathways will be offered: pre-engineering, computer science, and heavy equipment -- each partnering with a local business or educational institution.

It’s bringing the construction site into the classroom as heavy equipment pathway students learn how to operate a backhoe and bulldozer on a simulator.

“They get to sit in a seat that moves and vibrates. It makes noises when you hit something. Then they get to go to our community partner and sit down in a dozer and be asked on what they know,” said Christina Crase, principal of the Floyd County School of Innovation.

“I think this just gives them a leg up when they walk out of high school with a certification to run a backhoe or dozer,” said Floyd County Schools Superintendent Danny Adkins.

The school also offers concentrations in computer science where students will learn how to develop websites, code, and build devices.

"It's not just building websites, our students will learn how to fix devices and code," Adkins said.

In pre-engineering students will have the opportunity to complete lab work and 3D print.

“Kids will come to us for three hours of their day, so it could be the morning or afternoon. And take one more or course with us in their specified pathway, and then take another course, it could be a math course or a science course,” Crase said.

The deadline to apply is July 10, and there are only 100 slots available for the upcoming school year.

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