FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – A brand new charter school is now open in Florence. 

Virtus Academy opened on August 20th after nearly 5 years of planning. It offers project-based learning to students in kindergarten through 5th grade and students get the chance to learn through hands-on activities. 

“That gives students the opportunity to have choice in their learning. It gives our teachers academic freedom. And it allows our students to solve real world problems or challenges,” said Principal Amanda Bailey. 

Faculty members say the priority of bringing a charter school to Florence is to give parents more options of where to send their kids to school. They say some parents said their kids weren’t performing well at their former schools and weren’t getting the attention they need. They also expressed a desire to for smaller classroom sizes. At Virtus Academy, each class has up to 16 students. Kindergarten teacher Heather Willis says smaller classes are crucial for young students. 

“In kindergarten, they kind of want to be moving around more than sitting down so if you have a lot of children in there moving around, it makes your room all of a sudden feel very small. So because of that, it’s nice to have a smaller class size because they are moving around so much going from play activity to center time and it just helps the room not feel so cramped and tight and they’re able to move around more freely,” she said. 

Another goal is to address failing schools in the Pee Dee. Board Chair Bill Pickle says a speech from President Barack Obama opened his eyes to the need for revamped education. 

“After hearing President Obama’s speech about the corridor of shame, that was something that woke me up to the problems that we had in the area. With Darlington, Florence, this corridor through here, the corridor of shame, that was us. We ranked very low in national standards and education,” he said. 

Pickle believes project-based learning will be a remedy for poor performance in rural schools, and he hopes Virtus Academy will lead the way.  

“That’s our goal. The kids are our future. And if we’re going to have a future, we better have some people that are able to make it happen,” he said. 

News13 also spoke with third grade student North. He says he’s learning math and also how to conduct camera interviews. 

Virtus Academy will add a grade level each year until it is a K-12 school. The school is tuition-free and is open to students throughout the region.