School History

School's History

"There should be a mission that has us (the children) taste the feeling of success even though success may look different for us. We need to be empowered to lead in what we are good at. ... We need to have the support from community members in making the connections. We need to be ready to face challenges in life and make sure we help others get through their challenges. We need to be prepared to compete to get the jobs and responsibilities, but do it in a respectful way. We just need to be ready.” -- Andres Soto Jr., former TLC student

Back story

The Learning Center opened its doors August 2009 to 50 students who were disengaged at their traditional schools accross Fayette County. Since then, the program has grown to 190 students, moved buildings, and leads the district in Positive Behavior Intervention Systems (PBIS).  Our founding prinicpal instilled a unique empowerment model for students, staff, and community members to construct a school of value from the ground up. His doctoral research, "The Impact of Participatory Design in Accountability - Support Systems for Teacher Effectiveness," is recognized as a leading contribution for systematic design and evaluation of alternative student and teacher growth measures in Kentucky.  This empowerment culutre engages students and teachers, driving them to always be building TLC together.

Our location

The Learning Center originally was housed in the old Linlee Elementary, which closed at the end of the 2007-08 school year and was replaced by Sandersville Elementary. The Linlee property was renovated for its new use as TLC. Then in the summer of 2016, TLC moved into the former Booker T. Washington Intermediate Center as BTW recombined grades K-5 at the Howard Street location.