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State approves county’s virtual school

May 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bradley County Schools’ proposal for a virtual school has been approved by the Tennessee Department of Education.

Enrollment for the new school will begin June 1 and run through July 20, according to Bradley County Virtual School principal Zoe Renfro.

Applications and supporting documentation will be completed online via the Bradley County Virtual School website.

The school received state approval April 20, after the Bradley County Board of Education submitted an application to add this option for students.

“It was something we had been wanting to do, but couldn’t do until the legislation was passed … in July,” Renfro said. “What it did was allow all school systems in the state to create a virtual school if they so chose.”

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Montgomery County Schools present balanced budget

May 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

About 76 teachers were added in regular education, driven by the upcoming addition of Carmel Elementary School and the projected addition of 800 new students in the next year.

A full-fledged virtual school, which will likely serve about 50 students, is also budgeted for the next year.

“Students will have all of their instruction take place over the computer,” said B.J. Worthington, the district’s chief academic officer who is set to replace Harris this fall. “It’s another alternative for students who are struggling inside the classroom.”

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Home school policy proposal deferred

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“I think we have some wiggle room,” said Terry Looper, supervisor of student services for the school system. Looper said he, too, has some issues with the proposed policy, although he didn’t list any specifics either.

School Superintendent Ray Butrum said a home schooling policy helps protect the school system by clearly laying out home school parents’ responsibilities and rights. He said that he hopes the new “virtual school” program to be offered by the school system will be an option for some current home school families. By enrolling children in the “virtual school,” they can be educated online, from home, by the county school system, and the school system will receive state revenue for providing that education.

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Fitzsimon: War on public schools

April 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the least discussed destructive decisions made by the General Assembly last year was the approval of a budget provision that opened the door to for profit virtual charter schools in North Carolina.

And it didn’t take long for a company to try to take advantage of the new law. Officials with K12, Inc. convinced the Cabarrus County Board of Education in January to vote to partner with the company to set up a virtual charter in the state.

Virtual charters have a spotty record overall and K12 is an especially questionable company. An audit of K12’s virtual charter in Colorado found the state paid $800,000 to the company for students who never enrolled or lived out of state.

The company also faces a lawsuit charging that company officials misled investors and the public about the quality of education it was offering. A news story about the company’s efforts to set up a virtual school for Tennessee reported that K12 outsourced grading of papers to India until publicity about it forced the company to end the practice.

The only saving grace in North Carolina was that it seemed unlikely the state Board of Education would allow the for-profit virtual charter to open this fall, giving policymakers time to come to their senses and reverse the decision to further dismantle public schools.

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Consolidation talk angers, worries RM community

April 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

At their monthly meeting on Friday, the Carter County Schools Long-Range Facilities Planning Team held preliminary discussions on the timetable for writing their strategic plan. McMahan said the group is nearing the end of their data gathering period. Planning team members have received presentations from school supervisors and other local officials on specific areas of focus, including the condition of current schools and the City of Elizabethton’s annexation plans.

McMahan noted that he is still optimistic the LRPT can start developing scenarios and complete the strategic plan for the school board and county commissioners later this summer. Once the documents are drafted, the planning team will submit the report to the Carter County Board of Education and to the Carter County Commission. They will also conduct another tour of community schools to present the plan to parents and other concerned citizens.

On Thursday, McMahan and the LRPT also expressed their pride in the teachers and students at Cloudland for their academic successes over the last year. During the 2010-2011 school term, CHS was the only school in Carter County to exceed the goals set forth under the Average Yearly Progress, or AYP, objectives.

Carter County Assistant Director of Schools Dr. Kevin Ward said the LRPT’s main objective is to find ways for the school system to be more efficient. Ward noted that the district has steadily lost over 500 students since the 2001-2002 school year.  That year, Carter County’s end-of-year membership was 5,997. Ward said the school system had reached nearly 6,100 students in the late 1990’s.

School Board member Don Julian commented that the school system is actually ahead of most school systems in East Tennessee in the area of technology. “Our schools are actually not behind technologically,” said Julian. “We have long-distance classes being taught online, along with virtual classes and our classrooms have greater access to computers than ever before.”

Several elected officials from the county commission and the school board participated in the meeting. Carter County Commissioners Steve Lowrance, Joel Street and Nancy Brown were on hand at Thursday’s session. School board members Daniel Holder, Don Julian, Keith Church and Jerry McMahan also attended the event.

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Online Learning Advocates See Virtual Schooling as an Integral Component to Education Reform

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Students in Tennessee could click their way through more courses, if a Capitol Hill push to embrace online classes for K-12 education gains traction.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would bring requirements such as teacher-student ratios, which public schools that have traditional buildings and classrooms already adhere to, to bear for their online counterparts. That bill has not yet made it to either chamber of the Legislature for a floor vote.

Advocates this week laid out their position that while virtual schooling is edgy and perhaps intimidating to some, it is a potent tool for keeping students engaged and in school.

Virtual schools do the most to innovate education and level the playing field for kids everywhere, compared to other areas of technological reform in education, said Susan Patrick, president & CEO of the nonprofit International Association for K-12 Online Learning and a former director of educational technology for the U.S. Department of Education. Patrick was speaking at a forum at the Sheraton Wednesday hosted by the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee, a free-market think tank.

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Home schools draw closer look

April 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Bedford County Board of Education met Tuesday evening in a special called study session to discuss proposed rezoning for elementary grades and certain school board policies.

Virtual schools

In May 2011, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Virtual Public Schools Act, which gives authority to public school systems to establish online schools and allows students to complete all of their primary and secondary education online.

The act also allows private companies to contract with school systems to provide the online classes.

Most notable of these is Union County public schools, which contracted with Virginia-based for-profit firm K12 Inc. to provide a family-friendly learning platform. Officials there estimate 1,100 students signed up to take online classes after the academy launched late last year.

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Schools director search narrows to 5 semi-finalists

March 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Roper is a former consultant with the Carolina Cancer Services in Lexington, N.C.; a former executive director in the office of innovative services at Guilford County, North Carolina Schools, where he coordinated a virtual school program. He is the former director of assessment with Tennessee’s Department of Education in Nashville and is a former superintendant of schools in Elizabethton, Tenn. and Roanoke, Ala.

Roper spent the 1990s as an executive assistant to the superintendant in the Birmingham, Ala. schools system. In the 1980s-90s, he served as a program specialist/special projects and a school psychologist, also in Birmingham.

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Tennessee Virtual Academy serves area students

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As the traditional look of public education continues to change, new educational options are being offered through less traditional models, such as virtual schools.

This option will be available through Bradley County Schools, if the state gives approval, starting next year.

However, another online option is already available to all K-8 Tennessee students, through Tennessee Virtual Academy. A representative from this school, based in Union County, recently contacted the Banner in response to an article about the possibility of a local option. The school opened this year.

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Bradley students can select virtual classes

March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bradley County Virtual School will be an option for students, pending final approval by the state Department of Education.

The Bradley County Board of Education voted Monday to accept Director of Schools Johnny McDaniel’s recommendation for the school.

“It’s a very challenging program I can assure you, but it does present opportunity to children who may have a special way they want to learn,” board chairman Charlie Rose said.

McDaniel said the virtual school, where most work is done online, could provide a good option for parents interested in home schooling their children.

Board member Vicki Beaty asked how data would be gathered to determine progress, and if changes are needed.

Read more: Cleveland Daily Banner – Bradley students can select virtual classes.

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