BridgeValley Community and Technical College’s application for a charter school designation for its high school nursing program was unanimously approved by the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board. The two entities now have 90 days to draw up and agree to a contract.
West Virginia’s fifth charter school has been approved by the state’s Professional Charter School Board. BridgeValley Community and Technical College’s nursing program will provide an accelerated nursing program for high school students.
BridgeValley said that the school, called the Workforce Initiative for Nurses Academy, will be available to high school junior and senior students in its application to the Charter School Board. The school will be able to have up to 60 students enrolled at a time.
The accelerated nature of the program will make it possible for students to be able to earn an associate degree in nursing by the time they are 20, or even as young as 18.
Casey Stacks, president of BridgeValley Community and Technical College, talked to Eyewitness News back in September about the school’s goal to keep its momentum going after building a new nursing wing, and enrolling its largest class of first year nursing students ever, saying that they were “just trying to figure out ways to help high school students gain access to a nursing program earlier than they might have otherwise."
The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board voted unanimously in approval of BridgeValley’s charter school application. There is now a 90 day period wherein the school and the Professional Charter board have to draw up and agree to a contract. The first term for the new charter school should begin on July 1 of next year and run through June 30, 2025.
The Workforce Initiative for Nurses Academy, or WIN Academy, will be the fifth charter school in West Virginia. The other four are the West Virginia Academy near Morgantown, the Eastern PAnhandle Preparatory Academy near Kearneysville, the Virtual Preparatory Academy of West Virginia and the West Virginia Virtual Academy are both virtual charter schools. Another charter school is also in the works and is looking for a new place to host its facility.
More information about BridgeValley Community and Technical College can be found at its website.