LEARNING
Seventh-grade STEM students at Peachtree Academy take part in an ‘Egg Landers’ project. Students were required to use their STEM skills to make sure the egg not only survived but the landing device remained undamaged for continued use. Special Photo | Peachtree Academy
Private schools foresee growing alongside area’s population, economy By TOM SPIGOLON
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tspigolon@covnews.com
ome area school leaders believe private educational institutions should grow along with Newton County’s economy and population in coming decades. Private schools’ educational offerings often differ from public schools and create educational options for parents, they say. JaNice Van Ness, chief executive officer of Peachtree Academy, said she believes anticipated population and economic growth will benefit the multi-campus school, which has locations in Conyers and Covington. School leaders foresee about a 16% enrollment growth in two years in Peachtree’s service area based on 8
VISIONS 2022: HERE WE GROW
such measures as building permits and number of approved single-family subdivision lots, Van Ness said. Van Ness said the school now serves students from eight counties. Parents are willing to drive longer distances in metro Atlanta, especially to provide a quality education for their children, she said. Rachel Ernst, the head of school and upper school principal at Loganville Christian Academy, also said she sees the area’s potential population growth as benefiting LCA. The school added the most students in its history this school year, she said. LCA has enrollment goals through the next decade that she declined to disclose, but she said the school
anticipates about 600 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12 in the 2022-23 school year. “As long as those areas keep growing, we will see the benefits,” Ernst said. She said public schools’ general reaction to the pandemic may have people more seriously considering private education. National publications have noted the pandemic prompted some increases in private schools’ enrollments because they more closely followed parents’ wishes about the timing of returns to in-person learning. “People are looking for a change since what public schools have gone through,” Ernst said. THE COVINGTON NEWS
