Teachers react to closing of Moyer Academy [video]

Business continued on as usual at Maurice J. Moyer Academic Institute in Wilmington after receiving news that the Department of Education will move forward with plans to shut the school down.

On Friday, there were no students in the building, only teachers who were in part of the day for training. Although the news didn’t come as a shock, teachers openly expressed their feelings.

“I understand what the state had to do based on the past, but the system we have going on now is just so powerful that I just can’t believe we’re going to be closing,” said Dion Hutt who’s been teaching for three years.

“I was ready for the news,” Special Education teacher Shanique Williams said.

Williams who’s fairly new at the school said there’s been talk about the shut down circulating around but the decision to close Moyer doesn’t change anything about the way she plans to approach the rest of the school year.

“I’m still going to do what’s expected of me and I’m going to go above and beyond regardless of the decision,” Williams said.

“It makes me want to put more of a fire under the students,  and get them pumped up,” Hutt said.

In fact, moving forward is the only option for educators who still maintained a positive mood during training sessions. Moyer which opened in 2006 closed once before in 2010, reopening in 2012 under new tutelage.

“We understand that we have a past but our past doesn’t represent our future so we’ll continue to strive to do the best we can do,” added Williams.

The state board voted unanimously to close Moyer Academy, which serves middle and high school students, at the end of the academic school year due to poor academic performance.

In August a report revealed that only 23 percent of students passed the state’s reading exam and just 10 percent passed math.

“My students know I’m not going to give up on them and hopefully they won’t give up on me,” said Hutt.