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Fetch West Virginia school directory data

Source: R/fetch_directory.R
fetch_directory.Rd

Downloads and processes school directory data from the West Virginia Department of Education. This includes all public and non-public schools with contact information, addresses, and grade levels.

Usage

fetch_directory(tidy = TRUE, use_cache = TRUE, include_superintendents = TRUE)

Arguments

tidy

If TRUE (default), returns data in a standardized format with consistent column names. If FALSE, returns raw column names from WVDE.

use_cache

If TRUE (default), uses locally cached data when available. Set to FALSE to force re-download from WVDE.

include_superintendents

If TRUE, merges superintendent information from the separate WVDE superintendent list. Default is TRUE.

Value

A tibble with school directory data. Columns include:

  • state_school_id: School identifier (type + county + name hash)

  • state_district_id: County FIPS code (54XXX format)

  • school_name: School name

  • district_name: County school district name

  • school_type: Type code (BOE, ELEM, MIDD, SECO, PRIM, K, NT)

  • grades_served: Grade span (e.g., "K-5", "9-12")

  • address: Street address

  • city: City

  • state: State (always "WV")

  • zip: ZIP code (5-digit)

  • phone: Phone number

  • fax: Fax number

  • website: School website URL

  • superintendent_name: County superintendent name (if include_superintendents=TRUE)

  • superintendent_email: County superintendent email (if include_superintendents=TRUE)

Details

The directory data is downloaded as a CSV file from the WVEIS portal. This data represents the current state of West Virginia schools and is updated regularly by WVDE.

School types:

  • BOE: Board of Education (county central office)

  • ELEM: Elementary school

  • MIDD: Middle school

  • SECO: Secondary/High school

  • PRIM: Primary school

  • K: Non-public/private school

  • NT: Non-traditional (virtual, etc.)

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Get school directory data
dir_data <- fetch_directory()

# Get raw format (original WVDE column names)
dir_raw <- fetch_directory(tidy = FALSE)

# Force fresh download (ignore cache)
dir_fresh <- fetch_directory(use_cache = FALSE)

# Get only public schools
library(dplyr)
public_schools <- dir_data |>
  filter(!school_type %in% c("K", "BOE"))

# Find all schools in a county
kanawha_schools <- dir_data |>
  filter(district_name == "Kanawha County Schools")
} # }