A regional STEM academy in North Georgia is one step closer to reality after the Hall County Schools Board of Education voted to move forward with the charter application last week. The Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics academy at North Hall High School will house students from three counties and is slated to open next fall. “There’s been a push for more of those types of focused academies and we tried to figure out how we could incorporate that into one of our existing schools,” said Nath Morris, chairman of the board.