Craven Virtual Academy principal outlines enrollment drop, staffing and curriculum changes

Craven Virtual Academy Principal Mickey Warren reported to the Craven County Board of Education on enrollment, staffing and curriculum changes for the district's virtual program.

Warren said the school started in 2021 with 179 students and has declined to 117 this year, a drop she linked in part to students returning to traditional schools after COVID: "Last year, a 126. And then this year, we have a 117." She told the board she has hired an administrative assistant and now has two staff members plus herself, and that budget and contracted curriculum decisions have changed since ESSER funding ended.

Warren explained the school's learning model and course offerings, saying elementary students receive live instruction in core subjects Monday through Thursday while many middle- and high-school courses are self-paced unless they carry an EOG/EOC requirement. She described the contract with Edmentum for curriculum access and said the district's contracted amount for the product is roughly $324,500 a year ("324.5, that's the contracted amount for the entire year"). Warren noted she expects to use only part of that allocation during the year.

Why it matters: the academy serves families seeking a district-run virtual option and is funded through a mixture of district and contract arrangements that changed when ESSER one-time funds expired. Board members used the briefing to press for details and to raise parent concerns about alignment with state standards.

Board members and staff pressed Warren about curriculum alignment after families complained that 8th-grade social studies in the vendor-supplied course lacked North Carolina content. Warren said she raised that problem with the vendor in July and a specific North Carolina course was created for Craven's 8th graders: "I shared that too. I said, our 8th graders, they cannot because it says US history. Right? So I said, we have to have North Carolina history. Here are our standards. Here is what must be in there. So they made a new course for us." She said that course is assigned only to Craven students and is accessible to the principal for verification.

Warren also clarified how the district uses Edmentum products. She said Craven Virtual (CVA) uses a course catalog designed for semester- or year-long virtual enrollment, while other Edmentum products are used for homebound students and long-term suspensions but those students are not enrolled in CVA because they may move in and out of services: "CVA is designed for the whole semester or the whole year." She said the district pays for different Edmentum products from different parts of the curriculum and central budgets.

Warren shared results of a parent and student satisfaction survey taken before Christmas: roughly 88.9% of parents reported they were "very satisfied" with the overall experience and with the curriculum variety, and staff-reported metrics for students showed about 85% to 93% satisfaction on key questions. She also reported student outcomes: the academy moved from low-performing in year one to a "C" and met growth in subsequent years, with this year's state results pending.

Board questions and discussion covered safety and delivery interruptions (Warren described a recent Zoom security issue that temporarily required recorded lessons for elementary students), student transfers into CVA (applications and eligibility requirements apply), and supports for exceptional children (Warren identified a contracted teacher supporting exceptional children). Several board members and staff praised Warren's responsiveness to parents and pointed to individual success stories of students who otherwise would not have been able to graduate.

Ending: Warren left the board with requests to consider the budget implications of the Edmentum contract and to maintain the program through the coming year while the board evaluates enrollment and performance data.