Not your “grandfather's Vortech”.
At a meeting last June, John Chadwick explained the proposed Renaissance Academy to members of the Monongalia County Board of Education.
Chadwick is an architect and project manager in the Washington, D.C., office of DLR Group, an international firm that has the potential to make a significant footprint across the Mon School's educational spectrum.
DLR has been tasked with designing the aforementioned academy, which will be the district's first standalone school solely focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
If voters say yes in May's vote, by 2027 Renaissance Academy will be able to enroll all students on Monday, whether they attend a public school, charter school, private school, or are homeschooled. The school may be opened to students of
Supporters argue that such academies would provide invaluable opportunities for students who want a professional life in STEM fields, either through college or as a direct entry point into the workforce. There is.
But opponents say issuing nearly $143 million in bonds for construction costs is simply too expensive and would impose a heavy tax burden on already strained household budgets.
Additionally, they say the Monongalia County Technical Education Center already does a good job of training and motivating students who don't want to sit in a traditional classroom.
Mon Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr., along with BOE President Ron Lytle and board member Jennifer Haggerty, a former teacher and administrator in the district, spoke with the Dominion Post's editorial board last week. We talked about that possibility.
If it could be built, the three said, the academy would be accessible to every household in the county.
“This is not 'Eddie Campbell's idea,'” the superintendent said. “This is very much a ‘Morgantown community’ idea.”
It emerged from the 2020-30 edition of the Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan, known as the CEFP. This is a visionary owners manual of sorts for all public districts in West Virginia.
Every 10 years, educators interact with parents, industry leaders, and others to draft that 10-year plan.
The 2000-2010 CEFP on Monday called for the establishment of a new university high school.
Eastwood Elementary School was the first and only green school in the county to date and was the focal point of the 2010-2020 document.
The concept that became the Renaissance Academy proposal culminated in the current CEFP.
Academy vs. Technology Center
Meanwhile, from its campus on Mississippi Avenue, the area's tech center boasts a variety of services commensurate with high attendance and graduation rates.
However, the trio told the editorial board that the book lacked a deep dive into STEM.
Additionally, students must wait until their junior year to enroll. This typically means postponing core classes, Advanced Placement classes, and extracurricular activities after admission.
And there's a waiting list for some products there.
Three years ago, Mon's school district submitted a nearly $2 million request to the state School Construction Authority. The state School Construction Authority, the agency that funds school infrastructure projects, would be used to incorporate electronic gaming and robotics space in the tech center.
Lytle, who runs his own contracting company, said the district was rejected, but the concept itself may have been unrealistic anyway.
That's because the 40-year-old technology center wasn't necessarily built to evolve, he said.
Campbell agreed.
“We don’t have the space,” the director said.
Don't look for an empty tech center, he said.
Restructure to provide career technical education for junior high school students.
Dynamic…dynamic
The academy has always offered a combination of STEM-focused collaborative learning (advanced placement courses such as calculus and physics) and hands-on, interactive experiences.
It can be a springboard to medical school at a four-year university, or it can be a direct start into the workforce with all the credentials and certificates coveted by employers.
The idea is to fill the academies with transitionable in-service teachers, given that the STEM classes at the three public high schools don't have large populations.
Throughout the day, buses shuttled students to and from their respective major high schools.
Meanwhile, Lytle can imagine a robotics team working at the academy. One group designs the robot, another group builds it, another group programs it, and yet another group markets the competition.
And it's all under one roof.
“That's how it works in the real world,” he said.
The academy will fall under the jurisdiction of Mon County Schools, but as Campell said, its doors will be open to students from all academic fields.
“We are not going to turn students away,” he said.
Hagerty said she likes that industry partners offer internships and other shadowing opportunities that most high school students wouldn't otherwise have access to.
“Our children deserve these opportunities.”
Meanwhile, for more computer animation, planning, and other details related to Renaissance Academy, please visit the Mon School website at https://boe.mono.k12.wv.us/.
Learn from Loudon
Last month, Campbell chartered a bus to take board members and teachers to the Academy of Loudoun in Leesburg, Loudoun County, an elite magnet school in northern Virginia with a focus on STEM education.
The school is Campbell's inspiration for the academy here. He actually began his career in the Commonwealth as a Loudoun County Schools teacher.
Loudoun County and neighboring Fairfax County are among the wealthiest counties in Virginia and around the Beltway and have different demographics, but the school's motivation is similar to what Campbell wants to build in the Mountain State. It's the same.
Lytle was impressed by that, he said.
That's because it's the epitome of the West Virginia experience, he said.
Just as Mon County often loses top talent to, say, North Carolina's Research Triangle, Loudoun County suffered from brain-drain malaise in the days leading up to its Academy Awards showpiece.
It was right next door to Fairfax, after all.
The top STEM schools there were turning students away.
Then along came Loudon's Academy.
“Loudun got it,” he said.
Mong will also work with Renaissance Academy, the local superintendent said.
“One of the things that excites me right now is the idea that there are kids out there who are going to be in programs that are interesting and appealing to them and that they want to be a part of their future,” Campbell said. Told. — and you can't accept them all. That's a disadvantage. ”
Dollars and Sense (Grande, Venti, etc.)
Lytle said a top-tier school like Renaissance Academy will attract industry partners already here.
Other businesses and technology companies may also find a home on Monday, which is doing better than most West Virginia counties.
These new arrivals could immediately benefit from their country's highly trained workforce, he said.
He admitted that he would definitely be in shock now.
To be exact, the total amount of bond issues on the May ballot will be $142.6 million.
Depending on interest rates, this means residents could potentially pay an additional $52.56 per year for every $100,000 of home value over the 30-year term of the bond.
But Campbell wanted to put it into perspective. Cost ledgers can also be nuanced, he said.
He divided the 30-year bond term into monthly installments.
The superintendent said it would be about $4.25 a month.
30 years.
“So you paid for Renaissance Academy for less than the price of a Starbucks coffee.”
This raises another question: what happens if the bond fails on May 14th?
“If it does not pass, it is our intention to pass it on the November ballot,” Campbell said.
“We hope we don't have to worry about that. Our community supports education.”
