Call it a trip to the front of the classroom Thursday night, for organizers of a proposed charter school in Monongalia County that could also be the Mountain State’s first.
The board of directors of West Virginia Academy Ltd. will make a case in the gathering, which will be at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of University High School.
Masks and social distancing are required for the minimum-seating event, which will also be live-streamed.
Visit the Mon Schools website at https://boe.mono.k12.wv.us for login instructions and to access the academy’s 371-page application.
Said document is located at the “Board of Education” tab and pull-down menu on the homepage header. It is titled, “Charter School Application – October 2020 PDF.”
The academy’s president and board chairman is John Treu, a WVU professor who serves as assistant department chair of accounting in the Chambers College of Business and Economics.
Consistent underperforming of Mon’s schools in reading and math proficiencies were part of the motivation to the launch the academy, Treu said.
The district, the professor also said, isn’t generally meeting the needs of academic diversity in one of the Mountain State’s few counties boasting a measurable international community.
Treu and his fellow directors will open the forum with a 20-minute presentation, followed by a period of comments from any delegations present.
Delegations will be required to register in-person no later than 5:50 p.m. Thursday, and each will be allowed two minutes to present their comments.
An outside moderator will guide the proceedings, which will also be transcribed by a court reporter.
Lawmakers opened the possibility of charter schools in West Virginia following a contentious 2019 Legislation session.
Around 7,000 such schools operate in 44 states and the District of Columbia, according to pre-pandemic numbers from the National Center for Educational Statistics.
More than 3 million students in the U.S. get their education from charters, the center said.
Charter schools are mainly managed by private, nonprofit companies.
In recent years, charters have come under the watchdog microscope after a series of high-profile failures and charges of money mismanagement.
Still, there are success stories found in inner-city Washington, D.C., where charters survive and thrive, and in rural Tidioute, Pa., near the New York state border — in a region that could be a demographic cousin to West Virginia.
Mon’s school district and Board of Education has to sign off on the application for West Virginia Academy Ltd., as per state statute.
“A charter school proposal must be presented to the community with an idea that’s new and different,” Mon Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. said earlier.
The school district, meanwhile, will give a final word no later than Nov. 30, after allowing West Virginia Academy Ltd. to address any deemed deficiencies in its application during the review.
