FAQ

What is Holy Trinity Academy?

Holy Trinity Academy is a Preschool thru sixth grade school housed at SS Cyril & Methodius school building in Warren. The school's student body includes children from Warren and the suburbs as well as from Youngstown and Sharon areas. The board includes members from the four local Orthodox parishes. The curriculum is definitely Christ oriented, and Orthodox in worldview, however, the school is open to students of all faiths.

What is taught at the school?

The school uses a modified Classical curriculum, where their instructors carefully guide students as they accumulate facts and begin to compare, contrast, and interpret for themselves from an ever-increasing knowledge base. The basics of spelling/handwriting and phonics, reading and composition, mathematics, natural science, and history are introduced earlier and studied in more depth than in a standard curriculum, with the goal of mastering the subject matter, not just performing selected tasks. As a foundation for future study, students also begin the study of Latin. Logic is taught in the fifth grade. Music theory, voice/choir, art and art history, and physical education are also included in the weekly schedule. In all courses of study, book work, drills, and other classroom activities are reinforced with hands-on projects and off-campus experiences - zoo, science center, art museum, symphony, playhouse, monasteries.

Students also experience the cycle of services in the Church calendar, and participate daily in the Third and Ninth Hours before and after classes. The first class each morning for kindergarten through sixth grade students is Faith - specifically the study of Holy Scripture and the feasts and fasts of the Church.

The Classical approach to education, as advocated by British essayist Dorothy L. Sayers, has become very popular with home schooling families nationwide over the past decade, but the reason that Holy Trinity Academy researched and adopted this educational approach has to do more with its great success in the experimental public and private school communities. The Foundations Academy in Boise, Idaho - where student achievement is off the charts, and later success well documented - served as the model for the school.

Results

With this curriculum, students educated at Holy Trinity are achieving fantastic results. Iowa Test scores have shown that our students score one to two levels above their own grade level.

Holy Trinity provides students with a well rounded education that includes core academics, arts and recreation. The religious education students receive provides a solid moral foundation that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

Is the school accredited?

Holy Trinity Academy is registered with the Ohio Department of Education Office of School Options, and is currently a Charted School in the State of Ohio.

Currently, plans have started to pursue accreditation with the North Central Association Commission on Schools, one of the six regional accrediting bodies recognized by the US Department of Education, currently with 9000 members at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. Currently only two private elementary schools in Ohio hold this prestigious accreditation: Our Lady of the Elms, Akron, and St. Mary's Byzantine, Cleveland.

Why was the school started? Did the school's founders have something against public schools?

Without sacrificing the quality of academics, the school was started with the intention to offer Orthodox Christian parents a faith-based educational option to reinforce what they are teaching their children at home every day.

The existence of the school is by no means an indictment of the public school system, or the many fine men and women who work in the public education field. It is an acknowledgment that the nurturing of Orthodox Christian spirituality and worldview in our children is greatly aided by an enriched educational environment where the overall educational philosophy parallels the Orthodox understanding of theosis as a spiritual journey taken step by step and lovingly guided, and in which spiritual growth is discussed openly and given highest priority. That, indeed, is the school's mission: "…as an extension and fulfillment of the primary parental responsibility for the education of their children, to provide an education that guides the spiritual development of its students by their participation in the Orthodox Christian community and liturgical cycle; reinforces Orthodox Christian character and is academically strong."

The members of the school board and curriculum development committee who have formal education training all work or have worked in public school, and all have attended and benefited from public schools.

Testimonials

What do you value as a good education for your child? The parents of Holy Trinity children have asked this very question and found the answers in this school. Here are some of their comments.

Education: "Holy Trinity is academically strong"
"The academic superiority of our school is fantastic"

Safety: "I know when I leave her, she is safe."

Class size: "My children receive full attention from the teachers. They are not lost in a crowded classroom."

Religion: "The schools premise and founding philosophy is to teach the children that God is always First"