Virtual schooling gains in popularity Miriam Marting and her son Spenser look over a book used in the Virtual Academy curriculum during a recent demonstration at the Neville Public Museum (photo by H. Marc Larson). By Anna Krejci News-Chronicle Riding a school bus, sitting in a classroom of 25 or so students and suffering through school lunches have become things of the past for a handful of Wisconsin students. According to the Associated Press, approximately 1,000 public school students are enrolled in virtual schools and six virtual schools in Wisconsin have been established in the last two years. The virtual schooling trend seems to attract a pocket of Green Bay families if Green Bay Area Public School District data is taken into account. The number of Green Bay public school students enrolled in virtual schools through the state’s open enrollment program, which allow students to attend school in a district where they do not live, has jumped since last year. According to David Zadnik, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the Green Bay Area School District, last year no students were enrolled in the Wisconsin Virtual Academy based out of the Northern Ozaukee School District. This year, there are 14. Last year four students were enrolled in the Wisconsin Connections Academy and this year there are eight students. Patti Shea, of Green Bay, said her 11-year-old son is excelling as a student in WCA whereas in a traditional school he was not. “I have a very smart, sensitive son with a few learning problems,” Shea said. The traditional classroom did not suit her son’s learning style in part because her son has difficulty with handwriting and he was required to turn in his class notes for a grade, she said. He was focusing more on taking notes than on understanding the material, Shea said. At the WCA, “a lot of the testing is more about understanding instead of remembering the facts,” she said. WCA students receive a desktop computer that functions as an educational resource and as a communication tool between the student-parent teams and WCA, but the curriculum also includes print materials, such as textbooks and workbooks, said WCA principal Nicole Schweitzer. “It was like whoever designed that program knew Hunter,” Shea said. She explained her son can do assignments on a word processor and can work at his own pace. “I don’t have to quit everything before I’m done like at school,” Hunter said. According to Schweitzer, the academy accommodates students in grades K-8 and its enrollment doubled this year — its second year in existence — to 400 students. Parents cite several reasons for pursuing a virtual education. Some students have medical conditions that keep them at home while others are pursuing acting or modeling and a more flexible school schedule meets their needs, Schweitzer said. Some parents want to be closer to their child’s education. “They want to be the ones there educating kids on a daily basis, not just in academics but in morals,” she said. Miriam Marting’s 7-year-old son is enrolled in Wisconsin Virtual Academy K-7, based out of the Northern Ozaukee School District. She said she and her husband like the flexible schooling hours because they can coordinate family vacations and not worry about their son missing school. While the families involved in the virtual schooling have cited several advantages of the programs, Schweitzer believes some families who consider a virtual school bemoan not having access to a district’s extra-curricular programs. Some districts prohibit such participation, she said. While virtual schools can offer art and music history and music theory, the course work cannot replace certain experiences, such as playing sports and participating in drama, arts, debate or forensics, Schweitzer said. “I’d like school districts to see us more as a partner,” she said. Integrating virtual school students into public school extra-curricular programs would pose challenges for several reasons, according to Green Bay Area Public Schools superintendent Daniel Nerad. Students going to school in their home district have to comply with attendance standards and other codes of conduct in order to participate, he said. “We want kids to participate (in extra-curriculars), but it’s not a right,” Nerad said. Secondly, integrating open enrollment students in the district’s activities should be considered on a case-by-case basis, he said. Some activities have no limit as to how many students can participate, but some do and some require students to compete for team or club positions. It would be hard to turn away a student who attends school in his or her home district while a student who attends another school takes their place on a team, Nerad said. The Green Bay Area Public School District is participating in the creation of an on-line charter school through the Cooperative Educational Agency No. 7 (CESA 7). According to Carol Conway-Gerhardt, agency administrator, the school would cater to students in grades 9-12 beginning in the fall.