During the Mason City school board meeting this week, Superintendent Dave Versteeg informed the board that 73 K-12 students had enrolled into the virtual academy. From that total number, 14 students enrolled from other school districts into Mason City's virtual option.
"I really think we are hitting our marks for what we thought we'd have this year," Versteeg said to the board. "It's a great start. It's not too big and not too small. We're able to work on a lot of the kinks and we are excited to report more to you later about how that works and how we are meeting those kids' needs."
Board member Jacob Schweitzer says the numbers are positive in his opinion.
"I think the numbers are positive and we weren't really sure what numbers we were going to get when we first started," said Schweitzer.
Versteeg said via email there are more high school students enrolled than other grades into virtual learning. He added that high school seniors make up the largest number enrolled.
Versteeg says he is happy with the number of enrollees and the diversity of students. He added that the virtual academy has students with individual educational plans (IEP), gifted students, and students who will be participating in sports and activities.
"The majority of families enrolling indicated they prefer online learning and the flexibility it brings," said Versteeg via email. "It takes a real commitment from parents to maximize the experience for a student."
Versteeg says he was not surprised about the 14 students who open enrolled from other districts.
"We did not actively recruit or market the program. I think there will be a more concerted effort to do so going forward," said Versteeg via email.
Schweitzer said he is curious to see if more people will enroll into the virtual academy and if there will be a need for moving staff around or additional hiring.
Mason City's virtual academy was established through ESSER funds and allows students to continue learning virtually instead of going to a physical classroom. It is a K-12 program that will have its own standalone building.
The district has budgeted $500,000 for the 2021-22 school toward the virtual academy. The exact cost won't be known until the end of the year because the district might have to add staff if enrollment continues to increase.
Students use Chromebooks and Google-based technology for their assignments. Teachers use Google Classroom as the web-based platform, which enables them to create an online classroom area in which they can manage all the documents that their students need. Documents are stored on Google Drive and edited in its apps, such as Google Docs and Sheets.
Versteeg says the virtual academy has four full-time staff, who are fully dedicated to the program, to work with the K-8 grades because most of the instruction will be "synchronistic" or live through Zoom and Google Meet.
The high school courses are being taught by 10 part-time teachers who may be teaching one class, like biology, or two classes, like American history and world history.
"(High school) classes are more asynchronistic with the instruction being recorded or provided in some other way other than a live presentation," said Versteeg.
Some of the high school teachers teach full-time in live classrooms. The high school virtual classes are taught on their own time after school, evenings and weekends.
Whenever students have questions or need help from a teacher, they are able to get in contact during the teacher's work hours by phone, email, and Google Meet.
The virtual academy has a K-12 learning model that any student in the state could enroll in. The district has catered the academy to North Iowa specifically so students can still take part in Mason City activities if they want.
Versteeg said to the board back in January when the academy was first being discussed that it would provide a parallel to in-person learning and offer the same kinds of opportunities as face-to-face students.
Despite all their coursework being online, students in virtual academy are still able to participate in athletics, activities and field trips. The academy has programs for special education and gifted and talented students as well.
"One of the benefits is that they will be a Mason City student, so they will have access to all the activities and sports," said Schweitzer.
The virtual academy is like other buildings within the school district in that students can come and go depending on a variety of factors. Versteeg says the district does ask families who are considering the virtual academy to commit to at least one semester before considering enrolling back to a traditional school setting.
Schweitzer said he hopes to see there be an appetite for the virtual academy as time progresses. He added that he wants to see the program grow organically within the district.
"(The board has) been asking questions along the way and I'm excited that it got approved," said Schweitzer.
"We are excited to see the Mason City Virtual Academy open on Monday. It has been a collaborative effort by many staff to figure out the logistics, staffing, curriculum and other start-up issues," said Versteeg via email. "I look forward to seeing the program grow and how it complements the other excellent programs offered by Mason City Schools."
©2021 Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
