MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia Academy is ending its first academic year of operation. On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” President John Treu said the inaugural year of operations started with about 400 students from the Preston, Monongalia, and Marion County areas in August, and by October, student enrollment stabilized.
“We had some enrollment declines, which is pretty common when you have a brand new school because people are going in to figure things out to see if it’s right for them,” Treu said. “So, we dropped down from about 350 to about 300 in October.”
Treu said families appreciate the way subject matter is presented and lessons are tailored to the developmental pace of each student. He said the academic challenges provide less opportunity for students to become bored and end up in trouble because of a lack of focus.
“We primarily teach the students math, reading, and writing at the level they are at,” Treu said. “Whether that’s a fourth grade level if they’re a sixth grader or a fifth grade level if they’re a second grader.”
Staffing in classrooms hasn’t been an issue. Treu said they have been able to employ a dedicated group of teachers and administrators that has remained largely intact.
However, transportation was another matter. Treu said prior to the school year there were six bus drivers on staff, but before the first day all those drivers had taken other positions.
“There was kind of a bidding war for drivers in general just because there was a shortage,” Treu said. “So, we had to keep raising, raising, and raising the salaries to try to be competitive with the other opportunities the drivers were getting.”
The academy does offer girls and boys cross country, basketball, and track through the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC). With the passage of House Bill 2820, students are able to participate with local institutions in sports their homeschool, learning pod, or private school does not offer.
“It will be some time before we are able to offer football, so if there’s a middle or high school student that wants to play football and we don’t offer it, they can go and tryout for their local team and still play on the local team without it being a rule violation,” Treu said.
Treu said enrollment numbers are up about 85, so Treu expects to start the 2023–24 academic year with four hundred or more students. Priority is given to current students as long as they are enrolled ahead of the priority deadline. When new applications exceed the number of seats available in the classroom, a lottery is used to randomly select applicants to become enrolled students.
“I think just pre-k, pre-school, and kindergarten all have waiting lists, but from first grade and up, there’s space in every grade—at least some,” Treu said.
According to Treu, graduation ceremonies will be held at the classroom level this year, but that will change as class sizes grow.