Clayton Bradley Academy STEM School
Clayton-Bradley Academy uses a 1:1 technology to students and faculty ratio to allow real-time collaboration for students and teachers. Students learn at their own pace in a technology-rich environment. To help build that environment, this innovative school turned to Digital AV.
Clayton-Bradley Academy is a joint effort between the non-profit organization Innovative Education Partnership Inc. and Clayton Homes. The school bears the names of the Maryville-based business [Clayton Homes] and visionary school leader, Patricia Bradley, a 30+ year veteran educator. The private, coed small-school community opened in the summer of 2013 with up to 75 students in grades K-6, and grew the following year to offer Pre-K through grade 9. Plans for future growth include adding additional grades each year, as demand warrants, until we reach our full capacity of Pre-K through grade 12. Clayton-Bradley Academy is located in Blount County, convenient to Knoxville and the surrounding areas.
Digital AV began working with Clayton-Bradley in May of 2013, approximately 90 days before the school was set to open its doors. Digital AV was able to provide strategic direction through all aspects of the technology that would be used, including server, desktop and user-facing infrastructure, phone systems, wireless access points, network data wiring, electrical, security software, tablets, interactive whiteboards, and more.
In addition to Digital AV’s technical expertise, the company’s project management and organizational processes were also valuable resources for this project. Digital AV worked to coordinate a host of vendors and helped manage changes to the project along the way.
Future plans for Clayton-Bradley Academy call for an expansion into grade 12 next year (the school currently serves students in grades K-11) and the solutions that Digital AV created at the school were done so with this future expansion in mind. Additionally, Digital AV’s ongoing management of the school’s environment will play an important role in keeping the school’s infrastructure working well for both current and future students alike.
In this project, Digital AV not only designed an optimal computer environment for this “school of tomorrow” but the team at Digital AV performed in a way which allowed the faculty and staff to concentrate on school operations, faculty training, family engagement, recruitment of students and teaching and learning rather than worrying about the technology.