You are here: Home / Archives for Virtual Academy

Virtual Academy in full swing at Naselle

September 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

NASELLE — Veteran teacher Eileen Williams says, “The best thing about Columbia Virtual Academy (CVA) has been working with the caring families.” Teacher Cristina Hoyt adds, “I also enjoy talking to the students and seeing how they are progressing.”

They are talking about Naselle Grays River Valley School District’s new enterprise into helping families with Alternative Learning Experiences through schooling at home. There were already 192 students enrolled in CVA at Naselle Sept. 12. By the end of October Principal Jon Tienhaara expects between 350 and 400 students from throughout Washington in the program at Naselle.
*

CVA statewide already has an enrollment of about 4,800 students in Alternative Learning and they expect over 5,000 students for the 2011-12 school year.

CVA has allowed Naselle School District to employ three more teachers, two more secretaries, and a part-time principal.

“Alternative Learning students had been funded by the state at the same rate as ‘brick and mortar’ students, but the state cut the funding to 80 percent to save over $46 million due to last year’s budget crunch,” said Tienharra.

The money goes into the Naselle District’s general fund, but every Alternative Learning student has their books, materials, online, and other educational expenses paid for through the program.

Teachers and secretaries help every student and their families write student course plans and then the students are monitored for their progress throughout the school year.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual Academy in full swing at Naselle

Filed Under: Home Page, new, online high schools Tagged With:

Whiz Kid: Adora Svitak Writes, Teaches, Gives Speeches—and She’s Only 13

August 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

School and Neighborhood: Adora attends both Redmond High School and online school via the Washington Virtual Academy. She lives on Education Hill in Redmond.

Accomplishments: A gifted and prodigious youngster, Adora has published books, appeared on “Good Morning America,” taught writing classes, received a National Education Association Foundation Award for service to public education, and is an accomplished public speaker, having given a speech at TED’s 2010 conference in Long Beach, Calif.

Adora has most recently been working on putting together her second youth-centric TED conference in Redmond. Last year’s inaugural TEDxRedmond conference drew approximately 700 attendees.

Key to awesomeness: Adora says that she began writing at the age of 4, an experience she remembers as being quite memorable.
For the rest of the article, go to Whiz Kid: Adora Svitak Writes, Teaches, Gives Speeches—and She’s Only 13

Filed Under: Home Page, online high schools Tagged With: ,

State budget holes could hit close to home

March 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“The State Parks fee of $30 (per year) is one of the places we can increase revenues, but that won’t be a large gain in the overall budget picture. Naselle Youth Camp is in good shape and will be funded in the short-term, but don’t be surprised if JRA (Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration) doesn’t continue to change to a community-based model instead of larger institutions like NYC in the next three or four years,” Takko said.

“We began preparing for this over a year and a half ago. Both teachers and classified unions have worked with the school district to help prevent staff reductions through contract negotiations. Our staff understands the economic crisis the State is facing and are supportive of administrative and school board decisions impacting district finances,” Naselle Superintendent Rick Pass said.

“Fortunately for Naselle, we have entered into an agreement with Columbia Virtual Academy to add 270 home school students beginning next fall. This will help negate the reduction from the state and federal budget allocations,” Pass said. “Boyd (Keyser, Ocean Beach Superintendent) and met Friday (March 19) at Vancouver ESD to join a discussion on how to reduce special education cooperative costs by up to $1 million.”

For the rest of the article, go to State budget holes could hit close to home

Filed Under: bestonlinehighschools.com, Home Page Tagged With:

District to start virtual academy

July 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Starting this fall, those students will have the choice to attend the Snoqualmie Valley Virtual Academy, a new online classroom the district is launching for high school students.

The virtual academy would likely be made available to middle school students by 2011-12, District Technology Director Jeff Hogan said.

“The traditional setting is not right for all kids, and neither is the online setting, but we would be fulfilling a need out there for students,” he said.

Hogan said his work on the virtual academy coincided with a law recently passed by the state Legislature that requires all school districts to develop policies and procedures for student access to online learning opportunities.

For the rest of the article, go to District to start virtual academy.

Filed Under: bestonlinehighschools.com Tagged With: , , ,