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private schools

For this educator, relationships are the reward

Lisa Buie January 14, 2021

About a third of the 435 K-12 student at The Rock School use state choice scholarships, including 108 who use the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students and 15 who use Gardiner Scholarships for students with special needs.

Editor’s Note: At the end of 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared 2020 “The Year of the Teacher,” championing a $47,500 starting salary and a new bonus program for K-12 educators. In June, DeSantis signed into law a bill allocating $500 million for teacher pay, boosting Florida from 26^th to fifth for minimum teacher pay.

That boost applied only to district schools, causing some private school administrators to wonder if they would lose teachers. Alicen Crane, a teacher at The Rock School, a faith-based school in Gainesville, is among those who chose to stay. Here, she explains why the intangibles of her job are more rewarding than a bigger paycheck.

Alicen Crane

My experience at The Rock School is unique.

I attended The Rock as a student in elementary school and then for a while in high school. I spent some time in public school and was also homeschooled, so I have a little experience in various settings. But there was something about The Rock School that always drew me back.

As a student, I felt cared for spiritually, personally, and academically. So, when it came time to apply for my first job after graduating from high school, there was no question; it was The Rock Preschool I wanted to apply to. Now I was on the other side of education – I was a teacher.

I worked at The Rock School while getting my bachelor’s degree in elementary education and was able to substitute. I loved the small class sizes and being able to connect with the students, including some whose parents or siblings had been my classmates. I was able to learn from the teachers and get experience in a classroom. The Rock still had that community feeling I felt as a student.

After graduation, I knew I wanted to spend my first year as an educator at a school where teachers had the opportunity to focus on individual students’ needs and where the administration supported unique learning environments. So, I applied to The Rock School as an elementary teacher and was accepted.

That first year teaching, I learned so much. With a smaller school, I was able to grow professionally and personally. The administrators and my fellow teachers guided me through one-on-one training and professional development. I was able to learn so much from veteran teachers, including those who taught and inspired me. I was also able to grow by sharing with others the skills I was learning.

Five years after I first started working at The Rock Preschool, I was teaching my first elementary class. When I received my roster, I realized some of the students were the same ones I’d taught as pre-schoolers. I was thrilled! I had built relationships with these students and their parents. The relationships with families have continued year after year, at school events, in the car line, or in after-school care.

I know I could make more money at a public school, but I won’t be leaving The Rock School. It’s more than just an 8 a.m.-to-3 p.m. school. It’s a place where students, parents and teachers can be seen and heard. My administrative team is phenomenal, working with us to customize instruction to each student’s needs. The small class sizes give me the opportunity to use creative strategies to help my students succeed.

But the most rewarding thing about The Rock School is the opportunity I have to give back to my community. As I’ve pursued a master’s degree in educational leadership, I’ve had the chance to teach these students that their voice matters – that they all can make an impact in a world that needs them.

At The Rock School, I’m able to partner with parents and fellow educators. I’m able to teach the whole child, spiritually and academically, as each one continues to teach me. I wouldn’t trade that for anything, even a bigger paycheck.

January 14, 2021 0 comment

Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Equity Education Legislation Featured News Private Schools School Choice

Dual enrollment bill would ensure equal access to college courses to all high school students

Lisa Buie January 12, 2021

Lisa Buie

A recently filed bill that would shift the cost of dual enrollment from private schools to the state would benefit schools like Center Academy in Pinellas Park, one in a network of 10 schools across Florida that serve students with learning differences.

The staff at Center Academy used to encourage eligible high school students to enroll in classes through Florida’s dual enrollment program. Not only did it pave the way for those students to get a head start on college; it boosted their confidence and allowed any with reservations if college was the best fit after graduation.

But a loophole in state law that made dual enrollment prohibitively expensive for private schools forced Center Academy and others to limit participation – or not offer the program at all.

“Our students would have a chance to be successful, but we don’t want to offer dual enrollment because the cost makes it difficult for us to operate our school, especially if every student took advantage of the program,” said Steve Hicks, vice president of operations for the Pinellas Park-based network of 10 schools across Florida that serve students in fourth grade through high school with learning differences.

Recent figures from the Florida Department of Education show the inequity that the loophole created has worsened over time, with the number of private school students participating in dual enrollment declining 60% over the past 10 years. District schools, meanwhile, more than doubled the number of dual enrollment students during the same period. Home schoolers also saw their dual enrollment numbers more than double.

At the same time, the number of lower-income students attending private schools on Florida Tax Credit Scholarships more than quadrupled, putting more lower-income students at an even greater disadvantage.

“For years, private school students have had this stumbling block,” said Michael Barrett, who oversees education policy issues for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Everyone should have equal access to education. We have 30,000 students on state scholarships and over 22,000 on (income-based) scholarships who could benefit from accelerated college educations while in high school.”

The high cost has forced many Catholic high schools to limit dual enrollment participation to college courses that their own faculty members are certified to teach, Barrett said.

Dual enrollment access first became an issue in 2013 when a change in the law shifted the cost of dual enrollment programs from colleges to school districts. Because school districts are state funded, the state picked up the cost. But private schools, which couldn’t pass the cost on to their students, had no alternative but to limit their dual enrollment offerings.

New provisions for dual enrollment that were expected to address the issue were included in a wide-ranging bill, HB 7055, which then-Gov. Rick Scott signed into law in 2018. One of those provisions removed the requirement that articulation agreements – the documents that allow students to take certain classes at nearby colleges — must specify whether the private schools are responsible for tuition. But educators were not clear on whether colleges or the schools would pay dual enrollment costs.

Private school officials waited for clarification from the state Department of Education, but a memo on the bill did not address the provisions. Lawmakers have tried for the past few years to clarify the issue, but proposed legislation never made it to the governor’s desk despite bipartisan support.

Last year, state Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, sponsored SB 1246, which would have established a state scholarship fund to cover the costs incurred by private schools and homeschool students. (The law already bars colleges from charging homeschool students who take dual enrollment courses.) An analysis estimated the cost at $28.5 million.

The bill won approval from the Senate Education Committee but died in the Senate Appropriations Committee. A companion bill filed by state Rep. Ardian Zika, R-Land O’Lakes, also died in committee.

Supporters haven’t given up hope. This year, lawmakers are making another run at changing the law to shift the cost from private schools to the state. SB52, filed last month by state Sen. Ray Rodrigues, R-Fort Myers, is nearly identical to previous versions.

School leaders hope this attempt will prove successful.

“We have always believed that our students who attempt dual enrollment classes will be more likely to attend college and pursue a degree,” Hicks said. “It is great for their self-esteem to take a college course and find success.”

January 12, 2021 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Education Choice Featured Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice

Executive profile: Mid-South Independent School Business Officers president and CEO Damian Kavanagh

Lisa Buie December 22, 2020

Lisa Buie

Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida, is one of 340 member schools in 18 states and the District of Columbia that benefit from assistance from Mid-South Independent School Business Officers.

Since July 2017, Damian Kavanagh has served as an officer of MISBO, a nonprofit association serving independent private schools in 18 states including Florida and the District of Columbia. He spent seven years as a vice president with the Southern Association of Independent Schools where he oversaw accreditation and membership programs and worked for 15 years as a teacher, coach and administrator at the Westminster Schools of Atlanta, a nationally recognized independent school community and the birthplace of Mid-South Independent School Business Officers. He also served as head of school at Cambridge Academy in Greenwood, S.C.

redefinED reached out to Kavanagh to learn more about his organization and the state of private schools as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Damian Kavanagh

Q. Tell me more about Mid-South Independent School Business Officers, how it serves independent schools and what your role involves.

A. MISBO serves independent private schools by providing relevant information and research, professional development, opportunities to grow their network, and a purchasing consortium focused on their needs. Member schools are primarily located in the southeast, but MISBO has members in 18 states and D.C.

Q. A recent survey commissioned by your organization of 160 member schools showed about 70% with higher or stable enrollment this year compared with the previous school year, with 14 of them unchanged because they were already at capacity in 2019-20. Why did MISBO commission this survey and what were the key takeaways?

A. During the MISBO annual conference in October, one of our speakers polled the audience on the mode in which they had opened: virtual, hybrid, or face-to-face. While we had anecdotal evidence of open rates, the speakers were astounded at the numbers and asked us to help with a follow-up survey to ask similar questions to our entire membership. Another piece of both the conference poll and the later survey was to overlay enrollment information and ask if enrollment had gone up, down, or was about the same. Our current work for a subsequent article overlays county data on public school open modality, county unemployment rates, and county COVID-19 rates. These data points allow us to run regression models to determine what factors are statistically most contributory to what we saw this fall in independent schools.

We are still working through the more detailed analysis, but it appears that public school virtual choice is highly correlated to private school increase in enrollment. I’m not sure we needed statistics to tell us this, but with stats, it is pretty clear. And it looks like that is the dominant variable that drove families to choose a private school for their children. Simply put, and again, something we already knew anecdotally, families wanted to be face-to-face. What I wonder is what would have happened if their public school had, like so many private schools, figured out how to provide an in-person experience to students that was safe.

Q. Given the changes in education that were hastened by the pandemic, what are the most pressing professional development needs and resource needs for educators and how will your organization adapt to meet those changing needs?

A. Two things happened so quickly it felt like a switch was thrown. The first is that schools had to purchase additional equipment for campus safety and teaching and learning. Both purchase areas represented opportunities for learning – first in how to keep people on campus safe while following appropriate guidelines of masks, cleanliness, distancing, exposure management, contact tracing, etc.

The second thing that happened was that schools helped faculty, students, and parents get up to speed quickly throughout the spring when campuses were shut down and into the fall when campuses were reopened to help continue the learning process for students. Our member listservs were very active with educators sharing what they learned and relying on each other for solutions to problems they were just starting to encounter. As an association, MISBO’s job is to provide a forum for this exchange, provide timely information to anticipate the needs of members, and help schools navigate the waters of new circumstances.

Q. As a longtime educator, in what direction do you see education moving over the next 10 years?

A. Throughout the next decade, I hope that we will learn from the pandemic just how resilient we can be. A teacher colleague of mine, whose independent school has been face-to-face since August, commented to me that her students know how to play with each other. They came back to school better equipped to listen to each other and they are very ready to learn. She attributed it to quality time over the spring and summer at home with attentive family members. I thought that was a peculiar silver lining that I hope plays out for many of our youngest students, and I wonder if more family engagement in our children’s education could be a good thing.

Economically, I do not know if that was due to work from home or unemployment, but students can pick up on the stress and the joy of parents very quickly and are more likely to be engaged when they know there are adults around them, beyond their teachers, cheering them on and helping them. If we have greater cooperation between home and school in the future, that will be a great thing for education. One of our schools in Mississippi used virtual reality throughout the spring to keep in touch with students, and although that isn’t something every school can do, the depth of commitment to find a way to stay connected is what I hope we double down on in education over the next decade.

December 22, 2020 0 comment

Commentary and Opinion Education Choice Featured Private School Scholarships Private Schools School Choice Student Voices Students Tax Credit Scholarships Voices for Education Choice

In her own words: A Step Up Scholar on the most important thing she learned in high school

Special to redefinED December 17, 2020

Special to redefinED

Editor’s note: Isabella Garcia, a senior at La Progresiva Presbyterian School in South Florida, wrote this essay as part of her college application. Located in a working-class section of Miami, La Progresiva serves 622 students who qualify for Florida Tax Credit Scholarships. Isabella’s essay came to redefinED unsolicited and is being published with her permission. You can hear more from La Progresiva students here.

The most valuable lesson I have learned while in high school is to be charitable. I have attended La Progresiva Presbyterian School (LPPS) for nearly thirteen years. Yes, this is a private school, and no— my single mother is not rich. I have been fortunate enough to attend this school because of charity – the kindness of others.

I, along with many others, attend this school on the Step Up For Students low–income scholarship. Were it not for this act of charity, I might not have the aspirations I do now. Being the child of immigrants heavily affected my academics; my mother pushed me to do my best in school because she wanted me to have the future that was out of reach for her.

This scholarship that I was awarded and was able to use at LPPS was a ray of hope for my family. Although I may have been too young to realize the opportunity I was provided, it has propelled me to never take anything for granted. This form of charity has given my family and me this educational opportunity, opening the possibilities of a better life.

These multi-million dollar companies, through a charitable tax credit, may have provided what seemed to them an insignificant donation, but through their charity have provided me with opportunities that otherwise would not have been available. Throughout my thirteen years at LPPS, I realized that it was imperative for me to be a part of the ripple effect.

Different missions projects and community service opportunities at LPPS opened my eyes to the impact that charity has on a community. When one of the students was diagnosed with cancer, the entire school came together to fundraise and assist her family, even after her passing. I have learned that being part of something bigger than myself will produce an impact that will resonate.

In every aspect of my life, I have gained the understanding that you must love your fellow man as yourself. Through the giving of my time, just like the giving of the donations to produce these scholarships, I have learned how essential charity is to produce a society, in which kindness can abound.

The charity I have received has inspired me to participate in acts of goodwill, such as the Susan G. Komen “More than Pink Walk”, which cemented my desire to dedicate my life to paying it forward. Personally, escorting the last participant in the walk – who was currently battling cancer herself and required a walker – was one of the greatest honors of my life.

This event played a pivotal role in my choice of career; seeing the impact doctors have on the lives of these women has motivated me to pursue a career as a doctor. Science has always been an interest of mine and a career in which it can be used to help others will fulfill the thirteen-year lesson of charity I have been given.

December 17, 2020 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Customization Demographic Research Education Choice Featured News Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice

Survey indicates many K-12 private schools are flourishing during the pandemic

redefinED staff November 30, 2020

redefinED staff

As schools continue to struggle with balancing the health needs of their communities with the education needs of their students, one segment of the K-12 education landscape has shown resilience, and in many cases, is managing to thrive.

According to a survey of 160 private schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia launched by the Mid-South Independent School Business Officers association, almost half reported they have experienced higher enrollment in the current school year relative to the prior year. Of schools where enrollment was unchanged, 14 reported they already were at capacity and could not have added to their enrollment.

At the time the survey was conducted (Nov. 18-20), 121 of the schools were engaged in full-time, face-to-face learning. The remaining 39 were following a hybrid schedule with some students learning in classrooms for part of the week and virtually for the rest of the week. None of the schools surveyed were fully virtual.

Most schools in the survey are in five states – Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia – according to Damian Kavanaugh, president of the nonprofit group MISBO.

“Families make school decisions for their children based on many factors, but the economic hit that most households have taken should have led to fewer families being able to afford a private school education for their children,” Kavanaugh wrote in a commentary for The Hill. “Based on our survey results, one reason independent schools may have gained enrollment during these tough economic times is that these schools have been more likely to remain open, having created detailed protocols based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other guidelines to maintain student and teacher safety.”

Kavanaugh pointed out in his piece that given the severity of the pandemic-related recession, and taking into consideration that private school enrollment today remains below 2007 figures, it was reasonable to expect a decline in private school enrollment for the current academic year.

“It seems like the independent school sector is having success balancing the goals of keeping students and teachers safe while providing a quality education during these challenging times,” he said. “And, despite the economic challenges faced by many families, more American families are making the increasingly difficult financial sacrifice to entrust private, independent schools with the education and care of their children.”

November 30, 2020 0 comment

Blog Guest Charter Schools Commentary and Opinion Education and Public Policy Education Choice Education Equity Featured Jack Coons Parent Empowerment Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice Testing and Accountability

Test scores plus responsibility

John E. Coons November 13, 2020

John E. Coons

“Liberty means responsibility.”

George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

The school choice movement continues to plead its case by focusing on “results.” That is, the experts compare the test scores of low-income students whose parents have transferred them to a “charter” school against those of age-mates who remain in the public school to which they were assigned according to their residence.

This fixation on numbers is understandable; the media need to keep the tale as simple as possible, and scores do exactly that.

Up to now, the outcomes so measured favor the performance of charters to a fair degree; in the world of numbers, choice appears to work. Of course, in the hands of anti-choice professionals, these reports can be and are portrayed as the effect of greater sophistication of those parents who made the choice of charters and of their children who have already profited by living with them in such a home.

In any case, the public who consume such conflicting news can, and too often do, conclude that choice would be okay – but it’s no big deal.

But it is. The comparison of scores is, of course, relevant to the wisdom of subsidizing choice for the poor. If, instead of this positive picture, there were a gulf in favor of those students whose families who decided their child should stay put, we might worry about aiding parents to make the escape.

But, in fact, choice of charters and private schools seems not merely to do no harm, but rather to raise scores and make subsidized choice possible. Society can now turn to address the more profound social problems it has created by its disabling of the parent.

The core argument for empowering the poor lies not in statistics but rather in the centrality of parental responsibility in creating and maintaining a stable home and, in so doing, increases our hope for the good society.

Here is a reality not so easily tested; there is no standard mathematics to report the spirit and functioning of parents and its link to the maturing of the heart and mind of their child. There is only our human experience of families.

I fear that, in the eyes of the child, by deposing the parent we have rendered fathers and mothers figures of impotence. They may ask their child at dinner how the school is shaping up, but, when given a negative response, they are helpless to aid their own.

And to the child, the overall message is clear: For 180 days of the year, the raising of a family is out of the parents’ jurisdiction. They may be loving people, but they remain powerless subjects of the public school. The design and pursuit of the good life are in government hands.

One must ask: Just what is the point of this peculiar subordination of fellow citizens according to their bank account? And just what is its effect upon the child’s respect for the very idea of family, and upon the parents’ respect for themselves?

And finally, what will be the contribution of each to the civil order?

November 13, 2020 0 comment

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Demographic Research Featured News Private Schools School Choice

Survey of scholarship schools shows few have received federal COVID-19 relief

Patrick R. Gibbons October 20, 2020

Patrick R. Gibbons

More than three months after the CARES Act appropriated billions of dollars to aid the education of low-income students in public and private schools, most eligible private schools in Florida have yet to see financial relief according to a recent survey of participating private schools conducted by Step Up for Students, which hosts this blog.

The nation’s largest state-approved nonprofit scholarship funding organization helps administer five scholarship programs in Florida, including two that are income-based programs, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship, as well as the Gardiner Scholarship for students with unique abilities.

The Step Up survey asked more than 1,000 schools that participate in Florida’ scholarship programs questions about the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), declining enrollment, and distance learning. Participants returned 662 completed surveys and 140 partial surveys.

Of 683 schools that provided responses regarding ESSER funding, 61%, or 415 schools, reported they qualified for the funding. But of those schools, nearly three-quarters – 74% – said they have not received any emergency funds.

Congress made available $13.2 billion to help stabilize K-12 education funding this summer amidst a global pandemic and rising unemployment. The U.S. Department of Education subsequently was sued over its directive on how to calculate the share provided to private schools. Though the U.S. Department of Education declined to appeal, it noted that local education agencies still were required to share the funds based on the enrollment of low-income students attending private schools.

Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents reported enrollment declines. “Unable to afford tuition” was cited in 63.7% of cases as to why parents no longer were enrolling their child. Forty-five percent of schools (298) expressed concern about losing new students because of the Family Empowerment Scholarship’s prior-year public school attendance requirement.

Additionally, the survey found that 54% of private schools worried that declining enrollment would impact their viability.

Though troubling, these findings nevertheless are more positive than those reported earlier in the pandemic. In April, 73% of private schools reported declining enrollments.

Overall, private school enrollment among lower-income students remains steady. For 2020-21, approximately 130,000 students are utilizing income-based scholarships, up slightly from last year, although these are preliminary enrollment figures.

The Florida Department of Education is expected to release its first-quarter enrollment reports either this month or in November.

October 20, 2020 0 comment

Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Course Choice Education Choice Faith-based Education Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship News Parental Choice Private Schools School Choice Technology and Innovation

Catholic virtual school offers options to families seeking online faith-based education

Lisa Buie September 10, 2020

Lisa Buie

Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School curriculum includes core subjects including reading language arts and math, religion and theology, Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses as well as electives.

When Susana Moro was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia nearly four years ago, a faith-based virtual school in South Florida allowed her daughter to stay home with her mom while keeping up with her schoolwork.

“She felt very comfortable and loved the classes,” said Moro, who underwent a successful bone marrow transplant and is now healthy. Her daughter, who had been a sophomore at Immaculata-LaSalle High School, did so well at Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School that she opted to stay and graduate, Moro said.

Since then, Moro’s younger daughter enrolled in the Catholic virtual school as an eighth grader to take a high-school level Spanish class.

And now, during the coronavirus pandemic, the school is helping families in Florida and beyond who want an online Catholic education for their children, although school leaders stress their goal is to complement in-person Catholic schools rather than compete with them.

“We expect most of these students to return to their brick and mortar schools,” principal Rebeca Bautista said.

Founded in 2013 when it served only a handful of students, the Catholic virtual school was created to support traditional Catholic schools by allowing high school students to take courses that were not available on campus, get remedial instruction and bank extra credits, as well as serve those whose participation in sports or other activities required frequent travel.

Earlier this year, the school added kindergarten through fifth grade, bringing its enrollment this year to about 800. Most students attend part time.

“Our mission is to ensure that Catholic education is not only on the cutting edge but setting the pace and establishing new educational models to inspire students to maximize their God-given gifts resulting in transformation,” Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami, wrote in an announcement letter to families when the school opened. The letter stressed it was important that “all Catholic schools keep pace with the demands of the 21sth century.”

The Catholic virtual school is fully accredited by the global non-profit accreditation organization Cognia and uses only teachers who are certified to work in Catholic schools. Powered by Florida Virtual School, the state’s 23-year-old online public school, it has infused Florida Virtual School content with Catholic faith and values perspectives, such as prayers before classes and references to God and church teachings. The virtual platform also includes theology courses that school leaders developed from scratch.

“We have ability to edit the content and enrich it,” said Marcey Ayers, director of special programs in the Office of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Miami. “They know that it’s a Catholic course they are taking.”

Like other virtual schools across the country, Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School has received more attention as families flocked to online education after COVID-19 forced campus shutdowns. Over the summer, the school got 10 to 12 calls a day from families seeking options. As the pandemic continued into August, the Catholic virtual school stepped up for traditional Catholic schools.

It offered them the use of their courses, taught by fully certified Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School teachers, as an online option for students not ready to return in person. It also offered its online curriculum to traditional schools’ faculty so they could deliver customized online lessons.

“Being able to offer this virtual school was really a blessing to us,” said Todd Orlando, principal of Bishop Kenny Catholic High School in Jacksonville. The school pivoted to distance learning in the spring, but when it became apparent the pandemic would continue into the new school year, leaders decided it would be more efficient to let a virtual school handle the virtual option than to require its faculty to teach both formats simultaneously.

“We are a brick-and-mortar school. We are not a virtual school,” Orlando said. “These people know what they’re doing.”

He added that school leaders also were attracted to the fact that Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School courses reflect the church’s teachings.

“We wanted a Catholic option for our families,” he said. “We realized their curriculum mirrored ours in each and every way. It’s been a positive and smooth transition for us.”

Of the 1,264 students enrolled this year at Bishop Kenny, 44 chose the virtual option.

Families with students who receive state scholarships including the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship can take classes through the Catholic virtual school during the pandemic as long as they are enrolled in a brick-and-mortar Catholic school, thanks to the waiving of a state rule that had required scholarship recipients to be taught primarily in person.

(Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, is the state’s largest administrator of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students.)

“It’s been an odd year,” Bautista said, explaining that most of the inquires she received over the summer came from families who had children with underlying health conditions or who lived with elderly relatives. Other calls came from international families planning to move to the United States but whose visas got delayed due to the pandemic. Other families wanted the chance to watch how campus re-openings went before committing to sending their children back.

“Some families made it very clear their intention was to only enroll for the first semester,” Bautista said. “They are hoping by January or the end of the first quarter they can go back to campus. Some said they might do a whole year and have a virtual year.”

That’s fine with her. The virtual school operates on a semester system, has a pool of part-time certified teachers, and is used to being nimble. They also see their primary purpose as supporting traditional Catholic schools.

“If a school calls and says, ‘This is an issue that we have, can you help us,’ 99.9 percent of the time, we say, ‘Yes, we can,’” Bautista said. “We don’t have a minimum enrollment. If one student from one school needs Algebra I, we can offer it.”

Virtual school leaders want to ensure continued growth by raising awareness and offering new programs, such as recently launched theology classes for adults. COVID-19 has provided an opportunity for Catholic schools to extend their reach, especially as people become more comfortable learning online, Bautista said.

“We’re expanding our marketing for the school to reach everyone,” said Ayers, the special program director for the archdiocese. “We are going to meet the needs of all students – not just gifted or special needs students, but all students.”

September 10, 2020 0 comment