As the 2022-23 school year draws to a close, two major changes are happening at Westlake Academy.

First, after serving as head of school for one year, Sean Wilson has resigned, according to Communications Manager Erin Spicer. Wilson started with Westlake Academy in May 2022.

Before serving as head of school at Westlake Academy, Wilson worked in academic settings in New Orleans for 16 years, according to prior Community Impact reporting. He served as the head of school for the International School of Louisiana and then for the International High School of New Orleans—a public college preparatory charter school that offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.

Westlake Academy is owned and operated by the town of Westlake. It is the only municipally owned and -operated open-enrollment charter school in Texas, according to the school's website.

According to Spicer, the city is utilizing its human resource staff to perform an international search for Wilson’s replacement.

Second, the school, which utilizes the International Baccalaureate curriculum, will undergo a restructuring. According to the International Baccalaureate website, IB programs develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are motivated to succeed. The programs give students distinct advantages by building their critical thinking skills in addition to nurturing their curiosity and their ability to solve complex problems.

The backstory: Spicer said the school is split into three divisions that coincide with each of the three IB programs:

• The Primary Years Programme consists of kindergarten through grade five.
• The Middle Years Programme is grades six through 10.
• The Diploma Program is grades 11 and 12.

The details: “Beginning next school year, the primary school will be grades [kindergarten] through five; the middle school will be grades six through eight, and the high school will be grades nine through 12,” Spicer said. “Each school will have a dedicated principal and assistant principal, and each of our three IB programmes, PYP, MYP and DP, will have program-specific coordinators.”

In case you missed it: Spicer went on to say that in Texas, there is no set way that IB schools tend to be organized. The Uplift Education schools and Awtry International are structured similarly to Westlake’s new structure system, while the Meridian School offers all three IB programs but divides the grades into primary for K-5 and secondary for grades six-12. Still others divide the school by IB programs.

Westlake Academy will also celebrate its 20th anniversary in the 2023-24 school year. According to Spicer, the student enrollment the first year was around 300 students. For the 2022-23 school year, the enrollment is 864 students.