Heading into their fourth year as a school, First Odessa Christian Academy plans to add freshmen next fall.
“We’ve got 20 eighth-graders this year. We’re going to be able to keep enough of them that we can start our ninth grade and then hopefully get additional people that want to try a private school for high school and add to those numbers. That will be the … starting point for the Class of 2026,” Head of Schools Tony Parris said.
Plans are to add a grade each year. He referenced Compass Academy Charter School which added a grade a year and now goes through 12th grade.
“… We’re K-8 this year. Next year, we’ll be K-9 and then 10 and then 11 and then 12 and then hopefully just keep growing,” Parris said.
First Odessa Christian Academy had about 180 students “at the maximum” this year and 18 total teachers.
“I’m really hoping and praying for 240 next year. From last year to this year, we grew approximately 45%. We had 100, 125 students last year to 180 students this year is pretty good growth I would say. It’s 30% growth to go from 180 to 240,” Parris said.
Board President Kurt Verlei said it’s been the board’s intention from the school’s inception to offer high school and be the first private Christian school in Odessa to go from kindergarten through 12th grade.
“God’s blessed the effort and our prayer has always been that whatever we do would be in concert with His will and He’s certainly blessing us. It seems to me that we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, “Verlei said.
“I think the real benefit to the community is there is no other private Christian school that has a high school here, so we would be the first and be able to serve all of the students from all of the private Christian schools once they enter the high school years, if the parents of those children decide they want to continue in a Christian education,” he added.
There is a digital billboard advertising ninth grade option for next year, but Parris said they are going to try more publicity in various ways.
“… We’ll pick up a few. If I can get five or six, would be super, super happy. If I could get more than that, I’d be even happier,” he added.
The school will have athletics for high school students.
“We currently have girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls cross country and boys and girls track. We’ve had tennis. If we have a coach then we can offer tennis, too,” he said.
“As we grow, then we can someday start adding other things. I think we’re a ways away before we can start playing football, something like baseball; something like that. We’ve got to get bigger first. We have a band and a choir, as well here,” Parris said.
The choir was successful this year at contest with 14 of 16 students earning ones and two who earned twos at a private school music competition with the same standards as UIL and many of the same judges.
“I thought that was pretty great success for the first shot with those kind of numbers. I was really impressed with that,” he said.
While the billboard is currently the main mode of advertising the start of high school, Parris said word of mouth is another and there are brochures.
“Word of mouth is really big. We’re trying to step up our presence on Twitter and Facebook as we go through the spring to get the word out a little bit more,” he added.
Crowded public schools are one reason parents would consider private school, but small class size is a big plus.
“… Our classrooms are going to stay maxed at 20. We all know that public schools are 30, 35 sometimes in classrooms and that’s a difficult situation for students and teachers. So that’s one big draw. When I have a parent come up and express interest in the school, that’s one of the main things I point out is we’ve got small classrooms. I think that’s a really big advantage that we have …,” Parris said.
Parents sometimes express fear about their children going from elementary to middle school.
“There’s just apprehension from the parent and so sometimes they’ll want to look at other options and there hasn’t been a lot of option in Odessa through the years,” Paris said. “I’m really glad that we’re here and able to offer that change. Midland’s had a really well established private school thing and a lot of people in Odessa leave town to go to Midland for those private school options …”
First Odessa also hopes to offer dual credit to high school students starting in 10th grade.
“I think that’s an important track to be able to have. Dual credit is a phenomenal way to go through high school. It just sets you up if you’re college bound, in particular. … You can save a ton of money by going dual credit …,” Parris said.
There are no career and technical opportunities yet at FOCA.
“… I just focused on the academic side of high school and trying to get them, like I said, with the dual credit, get them as far as we can academically and then let things go from there. It’s hard when you’re a small school to do everything and (the) district’s got a big advantage because they can offer so many different programs for a wide variety of kids. We’ve got to be a little bit more focused and I want that focus to be primarily on the academic side, first and foremost. That would include dual credit as they get into upper high school. Then when we can offer extra things like that, like athletics, our music program, as we can add things in like that, that’s great. If there was an opportunity to do some CTE stuff, maybe even at some point putting in some technical classes in our schedule, I’d be all about that. But we’ve got to grow up a little bit,” Parris said.
Coming up will be FOCA’s fourth year as a school.
“I think it’s pretty good to have three years under your belt and be able to start high school, even if it’s a small way to get it started. You’ve got to get it started. You can’t finish it if you don’t get it started,” he added.
The goal is to go from kindergarten through 12 and the dream would be to start children at First Baptist daycare when they’re babies and walk out the door as seniors in high school, he said.
“That would be cool. I definitely want to be able to start to really focus on our kindergarten … That’s the foundation. That’s where your kids are coming from right now. We get that kindergarten all the way through 12th piece going all right here …,” Parris said.
Students take the MAP, or Measures of Academic Progress, test. Parris said they don’t take STAAR.
There is tuition assistance, which is needs based.
“I encourage every family that comes to school here to apply for it. My standard bit is if you don’t apply, you definitely don’t get it. And if you do apply, maybe you qualify. Maybe you don’t, but it didn’t cost you anything to find out … Our top award right now in elementary school is $1,000 and our top award in middle school is $1,500. Anybody in middle school can get $1,500 if they qualify. That’s the maximum anybody could get. And anybody in elementary could get $1,000, if they qualify,” Parris said.
