Sandy Cullen recently posted two very useful articles on local Virtual School activity:
- Sun Prairie family enrolls in an Appleton Virtual School:
Their mother spends four to five hours a day guiding her daughters through daily lesson plans, drawn primarily from curriculum developed over the past century at the Calvert School, a private “bricks-and-mortar” school in Baltimore, where tuition ranges from $14,000 to $17,000 a year for its 500 on-site students.
Home-schoolers can buy Calvert’s curriculum and support services at prices ranging from $245 for pre-kindergarten to $760 for eighth-grade.
But because her children are enrolled in Wisconsin Connections Academy, Leonard pays nothing. State taxpayers provide about $5,745 to the Appleton School District for each of her daughters. That’s the amount all school districts receive for students who live in another district and register through the state’s open-enrollment option. - 2 Virtual Schools Sued by WEAC:
The state’s largest teachers union has filed lawsuits — one unsuccessful and another ongoing — against two of the state’s virtual charter schools, claiming they violate state laws.
I think the MMSD should have it’s own Virtual school. Each student learns differently. Instead of losing students, we might keep some. However, I wouldn’t be supportive of taking other districts students.
I agree Johnny. I know my TAG kid (since they dumped TAG for the most part) could and would enjoy “virtual” TAG classes in mathematics that are not offered at Black Hawk. Likewise, my autistic son, who is very “visual” and computer literate, would benefit from a virtual supplement. Of course, we all realize that poor kids likely have no computer access in the home, and that would have to be addressed, but in this day and age, virtual learning is a reality. I know so many folks earning PhD’s via the internet connections!