community ,” says John Treu , the nonprofit ’ s president and board chair . “ As a group of parents and professional educators , we are dedicated to ensuring the school is a success and an asset to our community for many years to come .”
The organization started after Treu and his wife moved to Morgantown more than five years ago . They have five children and , upon moving to the Mountain State , enrolled their children in the local public school system . Treu ’ s wife , who is a certified teacher , noticed they were regressing in topics in which they had previously excelled . So , when the state legislature moved to allow charter schools , the Treus , alongside West Virginia Academy , applied to the combined boards of education for Monongalia and Preston counties in 2020 .
“ After seeing some of the challenges facing West Virginia public education more generally as well as some of the challenges specific to our local schools , we felt that a charter school would provide a real benefit to the children in our community ,” says Treu , who also works as an accounting professor at West Virginia University . “ Ultimately , enriching the educational experience for our own children and other children in our community , particularly those who feel the current public system isn ’ t serving their needs , are the most significant motivating factors for us . However , we also believe opening the first public charter school in West Virginia will provide an atmosphere for innovation that can assist other public charter schools and motivate policy changes to improve public education more generally throughout the state .”
At the time , the county boards of education were tasked with conducting the application review process , which was then handed off to the respective superintendents . While the West Virginia Academy ’ s application was not approved in 2020 , the group reapplied in 2021 . Treu is confident the application process will be more successful this year under the professional charter school board .
“ West Virginia Academy ’ s approach to public education will be entirely novel as the specific needs of each child and family will be at the center of everything we do ,” Treu says . “ Children will be taught at their individualized level of understanding and pace of learning in all language arts and math classes . Parent feedback will be valued and strongly encouraged . Our teachers will be incentivized to optimize student
outcomes and share their love of learning . Field trips and experiential learning opportunities will occur regularly with a weekly experience day , so student learning extends beyond the classroom . Our facility will take advantage of the natural beauty of West Virginia and provide extracurricular opportunities that build to a lifetime of fitness and enrichment .”
Treu hopes the opening of charter schools throughout the state can set a positive example for West Virginia ’ s traditional public schools .
“ Charter schools provide for greater flexibility within the public education system to innovate and develop more effective ways of educating our children ,” Treu says . “ It ’ s no secret that student outcomes in West Virginia are among the lowest in the country , and our state is also one of the last states to adopt a charter school regime . We have a lot of catching up to do , but successful charter schools can inform policymakers and educators about improvements that can and should be adopted more broadly .”
According to Kissel , the opening of charter schools will provide a healthy competition for the area ’ s traditional public schooling system , moving education in the state forward .
“ When the focus is on serving every kid instead of the system , the system will improve or get left behind ,” he says . “ About the same amount of teaching will happen in one place or another , so good teachers have nothing to fear . It ’ s those who aren ’ t , or who are stuck in a subpar system that won ’ t change , who should be concerned that parents will make a choice to leave the system for a better option for their kids . If it turns out that the private sector can run schools better than the public sector while serving every kid ’ s needs , we should let that happen for the sake of our kids ’ futures and the prosperity of our state .”
Treu also believes that by offering more education options to parents , more people may be willing to move to the state .
“ If successful , charter schools can reverse the trends of shrinking population and economies that have plagued West Virginia for several decades ,” Treu says . “ I believe the importance of a successful public education system that includes charter schools cannot be overstated in terms of how it could impact West Virginia ’ s future .” •
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