Friday, September 13, 2024
SPRINGTOWN — Hilltop Family Christian Academy’s enrollment has more than doubled in just its second year of existence.
Last year, the academy kicked off its inaugural school year with six students. Earlier this month, Head of School Judy Workman said the academy has 17 students — four pre-kindergartners, nine kindergartners and four in first through third grades — and more could enroll at any time. The growth isn’t a bad thing, but moving forward, Workman wants to make sure the academy retains its values of order, peace, respect as well as honoring and utilizing “God’s word” in instruction, while welcoming more students.
“I think that's the key there, is that you can grow,” Workman said. “You just have to make sure you're intentional about how you communicate your culture.”
Another part of Hilltop Family Christian Academy’s core beliefs is ensuring small class sizes with a maximum of 12 kids per class.
“That’s a hard-and-fast rule,” Workman said. “If we were going to grow out, like more first graders than 12, then we'd have to have two classes.”
Limiting class sizes is important for teachers because “realizing they're not going to have more than 12 kids is a big relief to them and to the parents, too, because they know that their child is going to get more attention that way,” Workman said.
Prior to Hilltop, Workman served as an educator for 21 years and worked in Boyd, Bridgeport and Springtown. When she was young, she said the only career options available to her were to be a teacher or nurse. Luckily, education suited her fine.
“I love to teach math, and I love taking a student from where they are to where we need to be to learn that concept,” Workman said. “Even when my kids were young, I tutored a lot of kids.”
Workman thought she had finished her career at Springtown Elementary School as a math specialist. She had heard of Hilltop Family Christian Academy, which was created by Springtown’s Hilltop Family Church and is located on the church’s campus, but she didn’t think about working there until she received a call from a higher power.
“I retired for a year at (Springtown Elementary School), and then, literally, I was driving down the road, down (Farm-to-Market Road) 51 past here, and the Lord said, ‘You need to go over there and apply,’” she said. “And I was like, really? I'm retired.”
Workman applied to be a teacher at Hilltop, but she didn’t expect to be offered the head of school role. The school was originally headed up by the church’s former Kids Minister Rebekka Harper, but Harper and her husband took an opportunity to move to another state last year. In light of Harper’s imminent departure by December, Workman was asked to fill the head-of-school role.
“The board wanted to hire one head of school for the whole year, and so I had applied to teach, but I put admin on there, too,” Workman said. “I have a principal certification and a master's in curriculum. And so, they called me back and said, ‘Do you want to be head of school?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I didn't know about that.’”
Workman took the job and started just days before school started last year. She said Harper worked with her until she moved. Workman also taught math last year and is teaching this year, too, unless she finds someone else to be the first through third grade teacher. She thought being head of school would mean she would have to deal with a lot of discipline, but that wasn’t a big issue. In fact, she likes being able to turn arguments between kids into teachable moments.
“If the kids get cross with each other, we're just applying scripture to it,” she said. “We talked about kindness and what it means to be a friend, and Jesus wants you to be a good friend. So that makes it really cool to get to see the kids grow in their knowledge of the Bible and what God's word does for them.”
Workman also said the school’s staff wants to work with parents to address a child’s discipline or emotional needs at home and in the classroom.
“The one thing I tell parents is that we want to partner with you,” she said. “If there's a behavior that your child is doing at home, and you want us to help you by getting with you and making a plan on what we're going to do if we see that behavior and what you're going to do so that child is supported to do the right thing all day long and all night long.”
That communication with parents last year is part of what made Hilltop Family Christian Academy’s inaugural school year a success, Workman said. In addition, the kids excelled last year academically and participated in a lot of fun activities. This year, Workman wants to see Hilltop’s students become strong readers and develop basic ideas about how numbers work together.
“One exciting thing is to hear a student read for the first time, where they're really putting it together and reading,” Workman said.
Several different jobs are included under Workman’s head-of-school title, including marketing, budgeting, purchasing supplies, managing a website and training teachers, tasks that would likely be done by multiple people at other schools. She credited Hilltop’s school board and the church’s congregation for being supportive of her work and the school as a whole.
“We have an Amazon wish list, and every time I share with them, they are so good to go out there and buy the things on the wish list,” she said about the church community.
In the future, Workman said she wants to see the school grow at “the right pace” and continue to provide support for teachers to do their jobs. Ultimately, the plan is for the school to extend through high school in the coming years.
At least part of Hilltop Family Christian Academy’s future depends on whether the Texas Legislature approves a private school voucher program, which could bring in more growth for Hilltop. Last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott prioritized the establishment of a voucher program in the regular legislative session as well as in the special sessions, but such a bill never made it to his desk for signing. The state’s voucher program would have established education savings accounts where families would receive thousands of dollars for private school tuition as well as other private education-related expenses. Another legislative session is coming next year, and this time, Texas lawmakers with pro-voucher stances may be able to send a bill establishing such a program to the governor’s desk.
Workman believes that a voucher program may allow Hilltop’s accreditation process to speed up. She said accreditation usually takes three to five years to complete, but with vouchers, the school may be able to get accredited by next fall. Hilltop Family Christian Academy is a member of Oral Roberts University Educational Fellowship, which makes the school eligible to apply for accreditation through the International Christian Accrediting Association. Through these organizations and their oversight, Workman said there is a foundational accreditation program that quickens the process to help private schools get accreditation and take advantage of voucher programs. If the legislature votes for vouchers, the academy could start their accreditation process at that time.
“They saw that they needed to pivot and make a program where newer schools could get accredited and be a part of that voucher plan, whatever that looks like,” she said.
Like all things related to the Legislature, time will tell what is decided and how it will affect schools like Hilltop.
To learn more about Hilltop Family Christian Academy, visit its website at hilltopfca.com online.
