JET Education Center relocates to Amelia

JET Education Center has relocated to Amelia. JET Education Center (previously Days of Wonder School) has been a fixture in downtown Batavia for the last decade. When a new apartment building development was approved in the area, they lost their lease and were forced to go looking for a new home.

With the help of Pierce Township and Keytri Realty LLC, they have found a new building at the corner of Huntsman Trace and State Route 125 in Amelia. The building, which has been mostly unoccupied for several years, required extensive renovations to accommodate the school. Keytri property has made a significant investment to turn the space into a seven-classroom microschool.

Meghan Egloff, Owner of JET Education Center, thinks the space will be perfect for the school. It is a short walk from Gohr Park, where the kids will have access to a basketball court, playground, field and walking trails.

Microschools are gaining in popularity all over the county. A microschool is often registered as a homeschool and has fewer students than public schools. JET Education Center has less than one hundred students and has multi-grade classrooms. This means that a child may have the same teacher for multiple years. The school is a hybrid model. Students come to school three days a week, which allows two days to work at home. Parents have some freedom to customize their child’s learning, while JET provides most of the curriculum the state requires.

JET Education encourages teachers to take their classes outside at least two times a day. Most classes have an hour to an hour and a half of outdoor time during the day. Ms. Egloff continues the practice started by the late Cynthia Day, founder of Days of Wonder School, in the belief that kids shouldn’t be sitting at desks all day and need to be up-moving and creating.

“Education is exactly like most things in life: what you put into it is what you get out of it.” Students who have only attended the Days of Wonder or JET Education Center model have tested well beyond their grade level. These were kids that started at Days of Wonder in preschool or kindergarten and then continued with JET when Days of Wonder closed down. One fourth-grade student tested at a 10th grade level in Language Arts and one freshman tested well into a college level in all subjects. Ms. Egloff continues, “Our goal is to create kids that want to learn. We encourage progress, not perfection. We want kids to get the most they can out of our program, so we don’t give grades or report cards until high school.”

Ms. Egloff and her team believe that a child can’t begin to learn until they feel comfortable and safe. “We do our best to make sure the kids are excited to come to school. We have actually had kids cry when we call a snow day because they wanted to come to school.” The school has fourteen adults in the building, which means a 1 teacher/aide per 7 students ratio. JET has teachers from various backgrounds. Many have education degrees, but not all. Some have had full careers in other fields and have now decided to dedicate some time to teaching. “We have a variety of people and a variety of personalities. We have a wonderful team this year!” Ms. Egloff says, with obvious pride.

She continues, “JET Education has openings in all grades. If your child would benefit from a smaller class size, more hands on learning and more outdoor time, give us a call and see what we are all about.” JET Education has preschool through high school. Ages 3-18. They were also voted Best in the East by Cincinnati Magizine in Spring of this year.

JET Education Center has an open house scheduled on August 9th from 5-7 pm if you are interested in visiting.They are located at 58 East Main Street in Amelia, next to Dollar Tree.