Northampton County Schools Eye Virtual Academy

Northampton County school officials and supervisors have decided to address a growing trend in homeschooling and outline new strategies to draw students back into the public school system while supposedly preserving parental choice.

According to Northampton County Schools, the county currently has 94 homeschooled students, up six from last year. The major increase was concentrated among high school students.

There are factors at play here–those of us who survived 12 years of public school institutionalization, or have run our own kids through the thresher, understand the desire to homeschool. Let’s be nice and just say families are seeking greater flexibility or different learning environments.

After spending millions of dollars to build a brand new campus, the response from the school district is to propose several new options to re-engage homeschooled and non-public students. Chief among them is a county-run Virtual Academy, developed in partnership with Virtual Virginia. Under the proposal, students would remain enrolled full-time in Northampton County Public Schools but complete coursework from home with instruction from licensed Virginia teachers using state-aligned curricula. Participants would still be eligible for school athletics and extracurricular activities.

The district is also exploring a part-time enrollment option that would allow homeschool students to take up to two elective courses on campus, particularly in areas such as music, arts or career and technical education. Students enrolled under this model would generate partial enrollment funding for the district while gaining access to programs that are difficult to replicate at home.

The question remains–what if everybody decides to join the Academy? If even, say, 30 or 40 or even 70% opt in, what then? It seems like this has turned into self-checkout at the Food Lion–you know what, we give up. You do it.

Who wouldn’t rather do the online thing? Who wants to get up at 6:00 just to stand outside in the cold waiting for the bus? Riding the bus is a terrible, degrading experience. I rode the bus, and it felt like we were all characters in Cool Hand Luke on our way to Road Prison 36 in Duvall County.

The Virtual Academy might really take off, and when it does, it may just address some of our teacher issues (how many do we really need, and where will they live).

The proposed Virtual Academy will be presented to families at a parent information session later this month, after which enrollment decisions will be finalized.

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Wayne Creed

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