A regional charter school for gifted and talented students in the Lowcountry is set to open its doors Aug. 18, 2010.

Palmetto Scholars Academy plans to enroll 72 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders – a total of 216 students – for its first year. High school grades will be added in 2011, beginning with ninth-grade, says Stacey Lindbergh, who is leading the project.

Students from across the state are eligible for the school, but Lindbergh expects that, for practicality purposes, most if not all of the school’s students will come from Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.

The school’s location hasn’t yet been finalized, but Lindbergh hopes to be granted use of the building that currently houses Academic Magnet High School, which is located on the Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston. Academic Magnet High School will be in a different building next year.

On Sept. 21, representatives from the Palmetto Scholars Academy are scheduled to meet with local leaders to request help in obtaining the building, which Lindbergh says is desirable both for its location and because it’s already outfitted with a lot of necessities such as science labs and an auditorium.

This past July, Palmetto Scholars Academy received approval from the board of the South Carolina Public Charter School District, much to the delight of Lindbergh, who says the school’s classes will be more rigorous than those in other public schools.

“It’s going to be gifted level of education from sun up to sun down, from the time they walk in to the time they walk out,” Lindbergh said. “We’re also going to be addressing the unique social and emotional needs of the kids.”

All children are eligible to apply for the school and if there are more applicants for one or more of the grades than there are slots available, a lottery will be held, Lindbergh said.

Like all students across South Carolina, those at Palmetto Scholars Academy will be expected to meet state standards, said Shelagh Gallagher, the designer of the school’s curriculum and an associate professor of gifted education at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.

“Where we vary is in the level of challenge of the content,” Gallagher said. “We vary in the depth into which issues are studied and we vary in the complexity of the connections we make between pieces of information.”

Gallagher hopes the school will draw interest from applicants who would benefit most from the intensive environment.

“We hope that any and all gifted students who are interested will apply and we hope parents think really seriously about whether their students can thrive in an accelerated and advanced curriculum,” Gallagher said.

Registration will be held in January and if there are more applications than slots, the lottery is slated to take place Feb. 15, 2010, according to Lindbergh.

Each grade will have three classes, comprised of one teacher and 24 students. Once the school is serving students in grades 6-12, it will be the only gifted charter school in the United States with all those grades, according to Lindbergh.

For more information, contact Stacey Lindbergh at (843) 745-5166 or slindbergh@homesc.com, or visit palmettoscholarsacademy.org.

Contact Michael Tannebaum at 873-9424 ext. 215 or mtannebaum@journalscene.com

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