EDITOR’S NOTE: Laurel Academy recently sued the Preston County Board of Education, alleging it has harassed and defamed the school. On the advice of her attorney, Kristine Ayers-Cline did not discuss the lawsuit as part of this story.
TERRA ALTA — Kristine Ayers-Cline gets emotional talking about her students at Laurel Academy LLC.
“Their parents entrust me to teach them, to educate them, so I think of them as my kids,” she said.
Laurel is in its third year. Before starting the school, Ayers-Cline was the director of another private school, Bethel Christian in Oakland, Md. She taught at Bethel before being named its director.
With a background in art, she also worked for 10 years doing therapy with people with mental and physical disabilities.
“I wanted to come back to West Virginia,” Ayers-Cline said. (Her grandparents are from Aurora.) She found a need for private education, she said.
Laurel Academy started with about 25 students and has about 50 now, including three from Mineral County and three from Garrett County, Md. Students have ranged from 4 years and up. There are two teachers and three other staff members.
Laurel offers an option to students not comfortable in traditional schools, Ayers-Cline said. “All of our kids don’t learn one way,” she said.
Jennifer and Todd Henderson enrolled their daughter last year, when she was in seventh grade.
“I was looking for something a little different,” Mrs. Hudson said. “I just think public school as a whole wasn’t a good fit for her. She was really bored. And I understand class sizes and whatnot, but the teachers can’t give individualized attention when they have a classes of 28 and 32 kids.”
Laurel Academy uses a blended learning environment of online, in class and book work.
It uses the Christian based Alpha Omega curriculum with the LifePac and Ignatia online curriculum. The state curriculum requirements are followed, Ayers-Cline said.
“I do standardized testing because I’m required by the state to do that,” she noted. She also tests incoming students to see how the student learns best.
The school operates year-round, with breaks that include three weeks off at Christmas and two weeks in the spring.
“Because some students lose [what they’ve learned] in the summer, and some kids learn slower,” Ayers-Cline said. “So this gives them the opportunity to learn at their own pace.”
Laurel’s graduates have gone on to colleges and trade schools, Ayers-Cline said. She has a dual enrollment option with Garrett College, which allows student to get college credit for some courses at Laurel.
“We prepare these kids to go on to whatever they want to do. We can customize,” their classes, she said.
The layout
The school is in the back of a building fronting W.Va. 7 in Terra Alta.
It includes an art room, library, science room and computer stations, as well as tables in the center room, where students and teachers can gather to study, teach and interact. The walls bear maps, a poster of the presidents, student artwork and inspirational sayings.
Small zen rooms have low light and are for students to sit and calm themselves. “Kids need to be able to decompress,” Ayers-Cline said.
She will complete her master’s degree in special education this year.
“It’s been an amazing journey for me,” she said. I’m very passionate about my job.”
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