Ground broken on 'Innovation incubator'

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A new school with a goal to be "an innovation incubator" will open this Fall and will incorporate ideas on education from students who participated in a contest.

The Kent Innovation High School, to be located on the Kent ISD campus, will feature blended content, such as the Bio-Lit class, where students will study both biology and literature together. It's based on a program called the New Tech Network in Napa, California.

The school will eventually have 400 students enrolled, with more than 100 9th-graders already set for the initial term.

A committee designed to study a range of ideas for the school utilized a study of more than 17,000 students in the Kent ISD, and put together the Student Voice Video Contest. Winners of that contest were announced at Monday's groundbreaking ceremony.

In a statement, Kent ISD Superintendent Kevin Konarska said, "Innovation High will look and feel quite different from traditional high school programs. We designed it together to inspire innovation in all of our schools, to benefit all our students."