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The power of partnerships

Five technology labs in Wichita exist because four partners each did a different job, and none of them could have done it alone.

Tuesday we cut the ribbon on a Verizon Innovative Learning Lab at Brooks Center for STEM and Arts Magnet Middle School. Fifth one in Wichita.

Nobody builds a room like that alone. The lab exists because four organizations each took a piece of the work and stayed in their lane.

The room runs augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, and AI.

Students and staff in the Verizon Innovative Learning Lab at Brooks, photo 1 of 59

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Brooks Center for STEM and Arts Magnet Middle School

Principal Josh Wilbert said it gives students a chance to extend the curriculum in ways the school could not before, and that it will build skills they take into high school.

KWCH said Brooks is one of about 200 labs nationwide. Verizon Innovative Learning has been running since 2012.

Verizon funds the technology and the educator support. Heart of America built the space. Arizona State University wrote the project-based curriculum and trained teachers, two from Brooks at ASU and others here with district partners. Wichita runs school.

People mix up two different things. In 2021 we joined Verizon Innovative Learning Schools, which is devices, data, and coaches in Title I middle schools. The board item named twelve campuses. The labs are a shorter list of physical rooms: Coleman, Curtis, Marshall, Hamilton, and now Brooks.

Twelve schools got the Schools program. Five campuses have a lab. Different lists.

Omaha

I was in Omaha Public Schools when the district joined Verizon Innovative Learning Schools. Digital Promise named Omaha in Cohort 5 in August 2018. The two campuses were R.M. Marrs Magnet Center and Norris Middle School. Students and staff got tablets with Verizon connectivity, plus coaches and professional learning. That was the Schools model. No physical lab.

Verizon Innovative Learning Schools announcement at Omaha Public Schools
Bryan Dunn, then principal at Marrs, holding the check

Bryan Dunn is holding that check. He was principal at Marrs, then took the Omaha Public Schools seat I left.

Marrs and Norris iPad rollout
R.M. Marrs Magnet Center and Norris Middle School

Wendy Taccetta wrote that Marrs and Norris brought the national network to 100 schools. Verizon later wrote that those coaches carried the rest of Omaha Public Schools when hybrid learning hit.

Omaha was the partnership without walls. Wichita added the rooms.

Marshall

Marshall went first. Wichita Public Schools posted the ribbon as a place for students to learn, create, and build with augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, and AI. Same partners on that video as at Brooks: Verizon, Heart of America, and the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University.

Curtis

Board members toured the Curtis lab with secondary leaders. The March 4, 2024 board agenda asked the board to approve memorandums of understanding for labs at Coleman, Curtis, and Hamilton, after those schools applied through Arizona State University. Marshall was already open. Partnerships that last get written down and voted on.

Coleman

Coleman is on that same 2024 memorandum. When Hamilton cut its ribbon, the school news post named Coleman with Curtis, Hamilton, and Marshall as the four labs then in the district. The work in those rooms is robotics, design thinking, coding, and virtual reality.

Hamilton

Hamilton hosted the ribbon on October 14, 2025. The next day the district said Wichita had four labs. The archived short repeats the partner list: Verizon, Heart of America, and ASU's Edson Institute. Same three names, fourth room. Brooks made five this week.

The rooms land where they do for a reason. I keep a simple map of how learning should land by age. Elementary is learning by doing. Middle school is skills exploration. High school is skills development. Spaght puts coding in the elementary core. HACK is the high school applied layer in cybersecurity, computer science, and manufacturing. The labs sit in the middle on purpose.

I do not have Wichita outcome numbers for these rooms. Verizon publishes national survey claims. Those are theirs, not mine. What I want in the Brooks lab is students using the tools to create, explain, and solve. Guests can come look after that.

Sources

Wichita

On the record