Mon BOE votes on levy rate proposal for Renaissance Academy

Apr. 17—It took Monongalia County Board of Education members less than a minute Tuesday night to adopt the proposed levy rates that could get the Renaissance Academy built, provided voters agree during next month's primary.

The brevity was owed to the fact that no one had turned up to speak—neither for, nor against—the academy, which would be Mon's (and West Virginia's) first standalone high school devoted solely to STEM— — science, technology, engineering and math.

After asking if anyone was present to speak, BOE President Ron Lytle then turned it over to Eddie Campbell, the district's superintendent of schools.

"The superintendent recommends that the board adopts the proposed 2024-25 levy rates, " Campbell said, "as presented in your executive content."

By a 4-0 vote, board members did. Board member Mike Kelly was absent from the meeting.

Campbell and other administrators and educators in the local system have been pushing for the idea of just such a school for the past three years.

The notion and vision of a school that could become the academy was borne of the 2020-30 Comprehensive Education Facilities Plan, which is a 10-year owner's manual of sorts adopted by every public district in West Virginia.

Citizens in effect write a new CEFP every decade.

Public input for Mon's 2000-10 edition led to a new University High, on Bakers Ridge.

Eastwood Elementary, Mon's first green school on the Mileground, was the centerpiece of the 2010-20 document.

Campbell and other proponents say the idea of a STEM school here is just mirroring the change of the educational and intellectual landscape across the U.S., post-pandemic.

While Mon boasts a higher college-going rate than most counties in the Mountain State, more and more seniors or newly minted graduates here and elsewhere are opting for specialized training programs when available.

That's so they can quickly launch into the workforce with livable wages—and no burden of student debt.

And "burden " is the word for opponents of the Renaissance Academy, who say the bond call, at a total of $142.6 million, is just too much for families and households to handle right now in today's economic climes—even in relatively prosperous Mon.

Allowing for some variances in interest rates, a resident, as Campbell said earlier, could pay an additional $52.56 a year, per every $100, 000 of home value under the bond for the school.

Others, still, are thinking about intellectual capital.

They're wondering if arts programs would still come out on the short end, even though the district is pledging that no program will suffer or be emphasized one over the other.

Meanwhile, the website for Mon Schools—boe.mono.k12.wv.us—features computer renderings and animations of the Renaissance Academy, which would be located on Blue Horizon Drive, near University Town Centre.

An additional breakdown of the bond is also included on the website.

Lytle, a business owner, said the academy could spark job growth through collaborative partnerships with other businesses across Mon and the region.

Top-performing students wouldn't have to leave West Virginia for work, he said.

Summer Johnson, a Morgantown High senior who is also completing her studies at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center, likes that idea.

"I say, 'Build it, '" she told a panel last week addressing the benefits of such a school here, which would also be open to charter school students, and those who are home-schooled or attend private school.

Election Day is May 14, and early voting in Mon begins May 1.

TWEE @DominionPostWV