Kissam Intermediate showcases STEAM Academy projects and student coding work

Principal Bethany Primo told the board the STEAM Academy is designed to close opportunity gaps and give students access to future-ready learning through hands-on projects and cross-subject collaboration. "It's designed to close opportunity gaps and give students access to future writer ready learning," Primo said while explaining curriculum sequences and student work samples.

Primo described how fourth- and fifth-graders will rotate through six-week units across STEAM subjects while sixth-grade teachers push into classrooms to support collaboration time. A sixth-grade student, Drake Krebs, demonstrated a rover built with the LEGO Spike Prime platform and explained how he programmed the device. "A rover... It moves," the student said during the demonstration. Primo said initial equipment purchases were funded through set-aside dollars and that a STEAM coordinator and teacher writes grants to support further expansion, including greenhouse and irrigation projects.

Why it matters: The presentation shows district investment in hands-on, project-based learning and grant-supported equipment for robotics and coding; trustees asked about funding and replicability across campuses and heard that teachers are actively pursuing grant opportunities to expand resources.