Valenta Academy to bring new way of learning to Bastrop children
Valenta Academy will expand how Bastrop students learn when officials open the private school in mid-2025.
The academy will be what is known as a microschool, which utilizes adaptive artificial intelligence to enable a self-driven, accelerated learning experience for students, spokesperson Paige Fults said. The school will be based on the two-hour Learning model, which provides students with personalized lessons each morning for two hours—allowing them more time in the afternoon for hands-on, community-focused projects, according to the Valenta Academy brochure.
After-school and family-day programming are already being offered out of The Boring Bodega.
Once opened, Valenta Academy will start by offering programs for students in grades 4-8, before expanding to include prekingergarten through eighth grade.
Fults said an after-school program is also in the works, and set to begin in early 2025.
Read more about Valenta Academy-Bastrop by Reporter Amanda Cutshall.
Bastrop ISD students will soon be able to work with Walgreens to receive their pharmacy technician certifications.
Students working to receive pharmacy technician certifications will be able to complete internship hours at both Walgreens locations in Bastrop.
According to Amanda Brantley, BISD director of college, career and military readiness, the partnership can accommodate up to 60 students per year.
The program is offered through the district's career and technical education, or CTE, program. CTE courses allow students to explore potential careers through work-based learning experiences, industry-based certification completion and student organizations. Other CTE courses offered in BISD include Animal Sciences, Agricultural Technology and Mechanical Systems, Carpentry and Construction, and Digital Communications.
Learn more about the Bastrop ISD and Walgreens partnership by Editor Sierra Martin.
With more than 10 years of working with students under his belt, Jared Shaw began his role as Cedar Creek High School head football coach and athletics director on Dec. 19 with Bastrop ISD.
BISD Communications Director Cassie Balderas said throughout his career, Shaw has launched and implemented new community outreach programs, established community relationships and deployed character-building opportunities.
Get a closer look at coach Shaw by Reporter Amanda Cutshall.
