Editing Morgantown, West Virginia (section)

==Education==
===West Virginia University===
[[File:Woodburn-circle-aerial.jpg|thumb|[[Woodburn Circle]] on the campus of [[West Virginia University]]]]
{{Main|West Virginia University}}

West Virginia University (WVU) is a public [[land-grant university]], founded in 1867. With an operating budget of approximately $1.2 billion as of 2022,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bonatesta |first=Lara |title=WVU Board of Governors approves 2022-23 budget and tuition increases |url=https://www.williamsondailynews.com/news/wvu-board-of-governors-approves-2022-23-budget-and-tuition-increases/article_47fb041f-5997-5bed-bcef-e8f83143cb6a.html |access-date=December 2, 2022 |website=Williamson Daily News |date=June 27, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> it also has $150 million annually in sponsored contracts and research grants conducted by faculty members.

Fall 2021 enrollment was 28,267, with students from all 55 West Virginia counties, 49 states plus the District of Columbia, and 112 countries. Some basic 2021 figures regarding the student body are:
* 46% residents, 54% nonresidents
* 21,086 undergraduates
* 5,753 graduate and professional students
* 53% female, 47% male
* 18% minorities

The 2022–2023 curriculum is supported by 13 colleges and schools offering 350 bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degree programs in the arts and sciences; business and economics; creative arts; engineering and mineral resources; human resources and education; journalism; law; agriculture, forestry, and consumer sciences; dentistry; medicine; nursing; pharmacy; physical education; plus programs at [[Potomac State College of West Virginia University|Potomac State College]] and [[West Virginia University Institute of Technology|WVU Tech]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=WVU Facts |url=https://www.wvu.edu/about-wvu/wvu-facts |access-date=December 2, 2022 |website=West Virginia University |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=College Scorecard |url=https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?238032-West-Virginia-University |access-date=December 2, 2022 |website=collegescorecard.ed.gov |language=en}}</ref>

===Public schools===
[[File:Morgantown High School in Morgantown, West Virginia LCCN2015631561.tif|thumb|The auditorium entrance of [[Morgantown High School]], established in 1883]]
The city is served by [[Monongalia County Schools]]. Public elementary schools in Morgantown and its surrounding area include Cheat Lake, North, Brookhaven, Ridgedale, Mountainview, Mylan Park, Skyview, Suncrest Elementary, and Eastwood. There are four middle schools: Mountaineer Middle, South, Westwood, and Suncrest Middle.<ref name="MCS Middle Schools">{{cite web|title=Middle Schools|url=http://boe.mono.k12.wv.us/schools/midschools.html|publisher=Monongalia County Schools|access-date=January 8, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515025200/http://boe.mono.k12.wv.us/schools/midschools.html|archive-date=May 15, 2011}}</ref> The city's two high schools are [[University High School (Morgantown)|University High School]], the mascot of which is the Hawks, and [[Morgantown High School]], whose mascot is the Mohigans. The latter's name is that of a non-existent [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribe whose name is a combination of the words Morgantown (MO) High (HIG) Annual (AN), which was the school's yearbook. The Native American mascot and logo were adopted because of the close relation to the name [[Mahican|Mohican]], a real Native American tribe.<ref>{{cite web|title =Morgantown High School – Mohigan Facts – The Mohigan|date =  March 18, 2004|url = http://boe.mono.k12.wv.us/mhs/academics/mascot.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061013181048/http://boe.mono.k12.wv.us/mhs/academics/mascot.html|archive-date = October 13, 2006|access-date = December 15, 2006}}</ref>  Notable Morgantown High School alumni include [[screenwriter]]–[[film director]] [[Lawrence Kasdan]] (class of 1966), actor [[Don Knotts]] (class of 1942), [[college football]] coach [[Tommy Bowden]] (class of 1972), and [[TV]] [[college football]] analyst [[Terry Bowden]] (class of 1974).

As of April 2005, Monongalia County Schools employed 897 professional personnel and 490 service personnel, and carries an enrollment of 10,076 students, including 156 adult students at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center. Three of Monongalia County's 23 schools have earned Exemplary Achievement status, according to the West Virginia Office of Educational Performance Audits' (OEPA) report issued November 2004. In 2004, Suncrest Middle became a National Blue Ribbon School for the [[No Child Left Behind Act]].
{{anchor|RC schools}}

===Private schools===
A [[Catholic school|Roman Catholic]] [[elementary school]], [[Saint Francis de Sales]], began sometime prior to 1915 as a two-room school in a house on McLane Avenue in the Seneca neighborhood, and run by lay teacher Miss Sterbutsal, who became Sister M. Isabelle of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In October 1915, the [[pastorate]] of Father Peter Flynn arranged for [[Ursuline Nuns of the Immaculate Conception|Ursuline]] nuns from [[Louisville, Kentucky]], and in 1918, under principal Sister M. Isadore, the school moved to a new building on Beechurst Avenue, adjacent to [[St. Theresa]]'s Church. On June 9, 1990, the grade school moved into the former St. Francis Central High School building,<ref name=desales-history>{{cite news|url=http://falcon.sfcc.pvt.k12.wv.us/history.shtm | title=History|  publisher= St Francis de Sales Central Catholic School| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070606080033/http://falcon.sfcc.pvt.k12.wv.us/history.shtm|archive-date = June 6, 2007}}</ref> and eventually into newly built facility at 41 Guthrie Lane.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928103513/http://morgantowntimes.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18 ''Morgantown Times'': "St. Francis de Sales Central Catholic School Dedication: Bishop Michael Bransfield to Bless New Building"] (press release, no date)</ref> Its mascot is the Trojan.<ref name=desales-history />

St. Francis Central High School existed for several decades on Birch Street in the Evansdale neighborhood until that campus was taken over by the elementary school on June 9, 1990.<ref name=desales-history /> The West Virginia University Foundation purchased its building and land in July 2003, formally selling it to WVU for $11 million in August 2004, with the university then announcing it intended to use the football and adjacent baseball fields as [[intramural sports|intramural]] recreation area.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080616123845/http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/news/page/4232/ WVU Today: (Sept. 2, 2004): "WVU board authorizes salary increase package, facility plans"] (press release)</ref>

Other private schools include: Morgantown Christian Academy, Maranatha Christian Academy, Covenant Christian School, [[Trinity Christian School (Morgantown, West Virginia)|Trinity Christian School]], St. Francis Elementary/Middle School, and the alternative, non-religious Morgantown Learning Academy.

===Early schools===
While informal schools existed from Morgantown's earliest days,<ref>[[Earl L. Core|Core, Earl L.]], ''The Monongalia Story: A Bicentennial History, Vol. 3: Discord'' (Parsons, W.Virginia, McClain Printing Co., 1979), p. 97</ref>  the town established a one-story, coeducational, Virginia common school in July 1803, that students attended on a tuition basis.<ref>Ambler, Charles Henry. ''A History of Education in West Virginia from Early Colonial Times to 1949'' (Huntington, W.Virginia, Standard Printing and Publishing Co., 1951), p. 2</ref> On November 29, 1814, the Virginia General Assembly incorporated Monongalia Academy, the county's first [[Public school (government funded)|public school]].<ref>Core, pp. 26–27</ref> Supported by obligatory [[Surveyor (surveying)|surveyor]]s' fees, the male-only institution was the equivalent of a modern-day [[High school (North America)|high school]].<ref>Core, p. 45</ref> The Academy moved to a new two-story building in 1830, with principal Jonathan Haddock offering courses in [[geography]], surveying, and [[navigation]] in addition to traditional subjects. [[Presbyterian]] minister Reverend James Robertson Moore was principal during the Academy's 1852–1864 heyday, when its enrollment included students from 14 states.<ref>Core, p. 384</ref> In 1867, the Academy closed, and donated its land toward the establishment of [[West Virginia University]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

The Virginia Assembly in March 1831 authorized the creation of the Morgantown Female Academy. Proceeds from the sale of the original Monongalia Academy building funded construction of a two-story school at Bumbo Lane (the modern-day Fayette Street) and Long Alley (the modern-day Chestnut Street). This school opened April 1, 1834.<ref>Core, p. 114</ref> After the Assembly approved a charter change in 1838, the school became known as the [[Methodist]] Academy.<ref>Core, p. 230</ref> This prompted local Presbyterians to create the Woodburn Female Seminary, for which the Monongalia Academy's Rev. Moore also served as principal. The seminary closed in 1866, and its assets, like those of the Monongalia Academy, were donated toward the future university.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Following the 1863 creation of West Virginia, the new state's first legislature created a public-school system. The act provided for the education of "free [[African American|colored]] children", and was adapted three years later to mandate education for all African-American children. However, a two-tier system was created: White children attended a regular term (at the second former Monongalia Academy building, purchased in 1867 from West Virginia Agricultural College, the future West Virginia University), only a short term was provided for African-Americans, who met at St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church, on Beechurst Avenue.<ref>Core, pp. 54, 632</ref>  In the late 19th and early 20th century, rural educational reformer [[Alexander Wade]] lived in Morgantown and was involved in establishing a system of graded education for country schools that was later adopted across the rest of the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/881|title=e-WV &#124; Alexander Luark Wade|website=www.wvencyclopedia.org|accessdate=April 13, 2021}}</ref>