Montgomery Public Schools partners with Meta for robotics, STEM learning

Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Zickeyous Byrd announced on Friday that the district has partnered with technology company Meta for robotics and STEM learning. 

In a video recording on social media Byrd said that Meta supports education through community partnerships. 

"This investment directly supports the expansion of our district's robotics initiatives," he said. "It allows us to purchase essential competition equipment, train certified coaches and event partners and create a centralized district-wide resource available to all middle and high school students." 

He stressed that the partnership is more than the robotics, saying that it aligns with the Alabama Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards and gets them ready for college and careers. 

He then introduced Henry Thornton, a community development regional manager for Meta, who mentioned the groundbreaking for a planned $800 million data center for Meta south of the Hyundai plant. 

"A big part of our community outreach whenever Meta builds a data center in a community is investing in public schools," he said. "And we've been really excited to find a willing and eager partner with [MPS], their school board, the superintendent, and the staff below superintendent have been extraordinarily welcoming to us and worked with us to put together partnerships." 

He announced a $20,000 donation from Meta to MPS and presented a check to Byrd.