About the school
Years of not lowering the bar
The Von Der Becke Academy Corp has operated since 2012 and has taught families in Buena Vista County since 2020, on one conviction: every student can achieve at the highest level when instruction is individualized and expectations are never reduced.
How the school began
The Von Der Becke Academy Corp was established in 2012 in Florida. The school moved to Storm Lake, Iowa at the end of 2019 and opened here in 2020 — 6 years of teaching Iowa families. Founded by Robert Von Der Becke, a career educator and behavioral specialist whose professional experience dates to 2004. The school was founded on the conviction that every student is capable of achieving at the highest levels — when instruction is individualized, expectations are never lowered, and the learning environment is built on discipline, mastery, and character.
Over 6 consecutive years in Buena Vista County, the school has served students spanning kindergarten through high school, maintaining continuous enrollment through a model that few schools attempt: competency-based, ABA-informed instruction integrated with a martial arts discipline framework.
Graduates have gone on to leadership roles in retail management, community development, and the technology sector.
The founding philosophy has not changed
Hold every student to the highest standard. Provide every tool needed to reach it. Never move the goal post downward. Students advance when they have earned advancement — not when a calendar dictates it.
Who we serve
The VA School currently enrolls a small number of students across multiple grade levels, which is what makes genuinely individualized instruction possible rather than aspirational.
Storm Lake is a diverse agricultural and light-industrial community with growing technology and healthcare sectors — the very career fields the school’s advanced program is built around. We actively serve families seeking an alternative to conventional pacing models, including students who have been underserved by standard grade-level instruction. Those are not edge cases here. They are who this model was designed for.
Institutional identity
The facts on file
The same details submitted to the Iowa Department of Education.
- Legal name
- The Von Der Becke Academy Corp
- Operating name
- The VA School
- Address
- 503 Lake Ave, Storm Lake, Iowa 50588
- County
- Buena Vista County
- Corporation established
- 2012 in Florida (14 years of continuous operation)
- Opened in Storm Lake, Iowa
- 2020 (6 years; relocated from Florida at the end of 2019)
- Legal status
- Nonprofit Corporation — 501(c)(3)
- Grade levels served
- Kindergarten through Grade 12, plus The VA Higher Institute (ages 16–18)
- School calendar
- Year-round, Monday through Thursday (four-day instructional week)
- Head of School
- Robert Von Der Becke
Our facility
Where learning happens
A seven-room facility with instructional spaces organized by cohort group, a dedicated Taekwondo training room, restroom facilities, and a lunchroom.
The school is actively seeking expanded facilities to accommodate program growth, and is pursuing accreditation and school choice fund access to support that transition.
Partnerships & funding
Why accreditation matters now
The VA School has maintained an operational partnership with a K12-powered public virtual school program, through which students accessed state-funded curriculum resources.
The school is now formalizing its independent accreditation status to participate directly in Iowa’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program — so that per-pupil funding flows to the environment where instruction is actually provided.
Come see whether this fits your student
Start with an application, then meet with the Head of School. We will tell you honestly if we are the right school for your family.