Westmoreland Christian Academy students celebrate their small private school

School choice groups across the state celebrated their heroes in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., and growing support for education savings accounts for private and home school students during National School Choice Week.

Students at the Westmoreland Christian Academy would benefit from both, but it is their own school that they celebrated this week.

The tiny nondenominational school located on a Hempfield hill overlooking the city of Greensburg enrolls about 50 students in grades K-12 from eight surrounding school districts.

On a rare sunny Friday in January, school Principal Jordan Tomson, who also doubles as a high school teacher, gathered the students for an assembly.

“We're called to be a light, a light in the darkness,” Tomson said, as a small sea of students decked out in bright yellow school choice scarves waited for dismissal.

Like many small private schools in Western Pennsylvania, the academy has felt the double whammy of a decreasing pool of school-age youngsters and a decade-old economic contraction that continues to force many families in the region to reconsider private school options.

Despite an expanding pool of tax credits that can be funneled to private school tuition and various school-based scholarships and discounts, enrollment is down.

The availability of tuition-free charter and cyber charter schools also plays into the mix. Pennsylvania Department of Education statistics show private school enrollment, which peaked at around 340,000 in 1997-98, slipped to about 229,000 even as charter and cyber charter school enrollment increased from fewer than 1,000 students to about 130,000.

“Several years ago, we were close to 100 students. But the highest enrollment we've had for the last five years was about 70,” Tomson said.

Students cite the caring faculty among the school's major attractions.

Sonya Mumper, a 15-year-old ninth-grader from Jeannette who previously attended public school, said she loves the small school on the hill.

“The teachers are just great. They're always there for me,” she said smiling over her yellow scarf.

While some small private schools have adapted by eliminating high school, Tomson said it is a point of pride that the academy has maintained its status as a K-12 school.

Often, that means a teacher will have two classes in the same room.

Just as their Catholic counterparts have merged schools to deal with declining enrollment and increasing costs, the number of independent Christian schools here has declined.

The academy is part of a local coalition of Christian schools that do some joint advertising.

“There used to be six schools with about 600 students,” Tomson said. “Currently, there are three schools with about 300 students.”

As a private school, the academy isn't subject to the standardized tests that have come to dominate lessons at public schools as lawmakers pushed ever-increasing demands for accountability.

Nor do schools like the academy have to accept everyone who applies.

“We have some students with learning disabilities. But some on the severe end, we wouldn't feel comfortable making that call,” Tomson said.

“And every January or February I get calls saying, ‘Johnny's getting kicked out, can he come to your school?' Well, the answer is, ‘It depends on what Johnny did.' Each case goes through the same application process.”

Those who do transition from public schools to the academy will find a different curriculum. The school uses the A Beka curriculum, which stresses the Bible as the literal word of God and eschews science for creationism, among other things.

Even so, Tomson said students are exposed to evolution theory as well, “because we want to make sure they know what's out there.”

And college preparation is among its goals.

Despite the Christian school label, Tomson said church membership is not required.

“Some of the students who come here have no church background,” he said.

Even so, small class sizes and a Biblical worldview were among the top two reasons parents cited when surveyed for school choice week.

Students cite the caring faculty among the school's major attractions.

Debra Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-320-7996, derdley@tribweb.com or via Twitter @deberdley_trib.