LOXLEY — Baldwin Preparatory Academy is preparing to submit a flexibility contract and innovation plan to the state in hopes to receive waivers from certain policies and regulations.

Baldwin County’s new "middle-college concept," set to open its doors to students in August, is seeking an exception to the traditional instructional hours and days, the ACT’s impact on the state report card and the way credits are evaluated for Career Technical Education (CTE) completers. The flexibility plan allows the school system to explain its requests, while the innovation plan details how the school plans to meet annual accountability benchmarks and its five-year targets.

Baldwin County Public Schools wants the waivers for Baldwin Prep because its courses, schedule and processes will be different than a traditional high school. It held a public hearing on Tuesday, April 2, as a requirement for the process.

Baldwin Prep will offer courses of study in automotive engine repair, diesel repair, construction, welding, aviation, HVAC/plumbing and electrical, mechatronics engineering, health sciences, cyber security, graphic design, teacher cadet academy, culinary arts and cosmetology and barbering. Beginning in 10th grade, students who are accepted will leave their base high school and move to the campus in Loxley for the completion of their high school education and a unique head start toward career development.

Every field listed has an industry partner or someone in the industry interested in helping the students, according to Principal Adam Sealy.

“Those partnerships could vary by instruction from those sources, or financial partnership,” Superintendent Eddie Tyler said. “We’re getting a lot of that. We’re carrying the workload of this $100 million facility. We’ve gotten a little bit, but very little help from the state.”

State law indicates there cannot be less than six hours of instructional time per day (exclusive of lunch and recess) within the also-required five-day school week. Baldwin Prep is hoping with a waiver it can shorten the school day in order for students to return to their base schools for any extracurricular activities they choose to be involved with. It also wants to shorten the school week to four days to allow students who have completed all requirements in that span to use Fridays to explore opportunities with industry partners.

School district officials also think the ACT will not properly measure academic success at Baldwin Prep and could damage its perception as the first wave of students merge from each of the county’s seven high schools, thus asking it to be left out report card criteria.

Alabama still requires the use of state-authorized assessments and other indicators to give schools a letter grade based on attendance, learning gains, college and career readiness, growth achievement gap and, most notably in this case, student achievement, which is heavily based on ACT scores. In its waiver request, Baldwin Prep is arguing that the state accountability system and its measures were developed without a school of this nature in mind that is prioritizing a career-focused curriculum.

Lastly, BCPS noted that to meet the College and Career Readiness (CCR) Indicator as a CTE completer, students must earn three credits with the grade of “C” or higher in approved CTE courses — only credits earned by completing coursework listed in the current CTE Program Guide being counted. BCPS is seeking flexibility on this matter as Baldwin Prep will be providing all students an opportunity to take dual enrollment CTE courses through its partnership with Coastal Alabama Community College (CACC); however, many of CACC’s dual enrollment courses are not listed in the state’s guide.

Either a waiver of this policy or a revision of the CTE Program Guides is being suggested to allow BPA students an equal opportunity to become CTE completers.

BCPS is currently in the process of revising its innovation plan regarding these issues and expects to submit all necessary documents to the state by May. The timeliness in which the state responds to the waiver requests will significantly impact how the school moves forward and prepares for the upcoming year.

“We’re fairly confident in the approval,” Tyler said. “This hopefully will go through. We’ve checked all the boxes, and we’re ready to go.”

Tyler was informed Tuesday the school is back on track after shortly falling behind its scheduled completion of facilities and maintenance. The school is now once again expected to be done with all finishing touches by July 1 and hold its final inspection by the end of that month in anticipation of its August opening.