A virtual academy option is expected to soon be available for Russell County students with certain circumstances in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The board unanimously approved the virtual academy, which Superintendent Michael Ford emphasized will not look like the virtual instruction last school year.
The board approved the request for a waiver, which has to be sent to the Kentucky Department of Education. Ford said many other school districts around the state have submitted such a waiver for this school year, so he doesn’t anticipate any issue with the waiver being approved.
Ford said the need for such an option arose from multiple emails and phone conversations with parents of children with medical concerns or a medical issue in the family that would cause a significant risk with COVID-19 rapidly spreading.
“We have multiple families that have reached out to me that have legitimate medical concerns and I think we need to do what we can to help address those,” Ford said.
With that said, Ford noted that the virtual academy will primarily be for these students, and he and the board hope that the vast majority of students will continue with in-person education.
“We need to have students in school, in the classroom, in front of a teacher where they learn best,” Ford said.
Parents/guardians will have to fill out an application once KDE approves the waiver and then they will have to meet in-person with a committee tasked with overseeing admission into the academy. The committee will then make the decision whether or not to accept the application.
Ford said the school district saw first-hand last year that several students do not perform well with virtual education, and students that opted to stay virtual last year but didn’t complete assignments or participate would likely not be approved for the virtual academy this year.
Along that note, Ford said the school district will be watching for truancy issues among students in the academy and if truancy becomes an issue without valid reason, the school district will revoke virtual access and the student will return in-person.
Aside from the application, another key difference will be that students would not have their current teacher if they enroll in the virtual academy. The school board voted to hire a virtual academy teacher and there are other school staff who will assist with the academy.
The platform for virtual instruction will also be different this year, as another key difference between this year and last year.
Students who enroll in the virtual academy will also need internet access at their home. The school district provides the Chromebook for students.
Students who enroll in the virtual academy will have the option of returning to in-person at any time and can do so by contacting the school’s principal.
“We want as many of our students as possible in-person, so we don’t want to make a child wait to come back if they need to,” Ford said.
Anyone who wants to learn more about the virtual academy can contact the board office.
