Pulaski County Special School District leaders have an offer for home-school families who live within the district's boundaries: a district-supported, tuition-free virtual academy for kindergarten through 12th grade.
The district's School Board on Tuesday approved a one-year contract with Tech Trep Academy of Springville, Utah, to provide online, individualized education programs to families who reside in the district but do not have their children enrolled in district schools. In particular, the district will market for enrollment the more than 800 students who are home-schooled.
"We want to support our community first," Charles McNulty, the district's superintendent, said about limiting participation to district residents. But McNulty also said the virtual academy has the potential to be expanded to other districts and counties in future years.
Student registration information will be announced soon for what the district likely will call the Driven Academy, to be operated or powered by Tech Trep Academy, in the 2019-20 school year, Rachel Blackwell, the district's technology instructional facilitator, said.
The academy will provide educational program options from which parents can choose, and mix and match, based on what they think is best for their children.
The Tech Trep Academy will employ state-licensed teachers to serve as "homeroom" teachers who will be contacts for the parent-teachers or for the company-hired part-time teachers who deliver the online instruction to students. The company also will provide and maintain the computers or laptops used for instruction, Blackwell said.
The cost of the online program to the Pulaski County Special district will be 80 percent of the state aid the district receives for each student enrolled in the virtual academy. The district will retain for its coffers the remaining 20 percent of the state aid per enrolled student. This year, state aid for each student is $6,781. That will increase for the coming school year and beyond.
Should the academy attract 250 students, the fee to the company would be in excess of $1.4 million.
The district is not setting a minimum student enrollment as a prerequisite for the operation of the academy nor is the enrollment capped, Blackwell said.
"Trep" in the name of the academy comes from the word entrepreneur and is a reference to the original and still existing Tech Trep program that provides online science, technology, engineering and mathematics electives to schools.
Tech Trep Academy operates virtual schools in Tennessee and Idaho, according to its website: techtrepacademy. com.
The Pulaski County district's agreement with Tech Trep Academy and its executive director, Franz Belot of Utah, specifies the academy's responsibilities, which include:
• Ensuring that all students are provided a curriculum that is based on state education standards by subject and grade level;
• Offering "with a wide variety of approved, secular curriculum choices" and assisting families in designing a personalized education plan for every child based on the child's needs;
• Providing a state-certified teacher and technology to support, instruct and assist every student on a weekly basis;
• Maintaining records regarding criminal background checks for anyone with significant access to students;
• Submitting Pass/Fail grade reports to the school district on a semester basis;
• Notifying the school district of any violations of student attendance laws and policies;
• Participating in conferences for students receiving special-education services;
• Updating the school district staff about the academy and its compliance with state laws/rules and district policies.
This is the second time the Pulaski County Special district has turned to sources in Utah for guidance in developing online educational programs.
The School Board in March renewed its partnership with Kenneth Grover, a former principal of the Innovations Early College High School in Salt Lake City. Grover has served since 2017 as a consultant to the district in the development of its new Driven initiative for high school campuses.
Driven at the high schools is a blend of online and traditional classroom instruction that gives participating students more flexibility in scheduling and in the pace of their individual learning. The Driven Virtual Academy would be in addition to the high school feature.
The current school year marks the first year of Driven as an instructional option for ninth- and 10th-graders at Mills High and ninth-graders at Maumelle High. Driven will be expanded at Mills and Maumelle High the next school year and also will become an option for students at Robinson High. The initiative will be added at Sylvan Hills High in the 2020-21 school year.
Last month's agreement between Grover and the county school district calls for the district to pay Grover up to $110,400 a year for three years, plus travel expenses and meals. The agreement also called for Grover to help with the district's online instructional programs, including the new kindergarten-through-12th-grade virtual academy.
Blackwell said Grover is not affiliated with Tech Trep Academy despite the fact that Grover and Tech Trep Academy officers are all from Utah.
Metro on 04/24/2019