Virtual school seeking students

CHEYENNE — Parents looking for public school alternatives for their children have another option this year.

A public virtual school, or online school, is looking to attract students from Cheyenne looking for a different educational path.

The school, the Wyoming Connections Academy, recently moved its home base to Big Horn County School District 1.

However, it is still open to all students in Wyoming, Principal Ben Kolb said. It offers classes for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

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Online Learning: What is virtual school? Learn about Connections Academy

Jackson Hole Connections Academy

Jackson Hole Connections Academy

Virtual academies gaining local momentum

Alternative learning is on the rise in Goshen County.

In 2009, the Goshen County School District (GCSD) joined the Wyoming Virtual Academy, a distance-learning program offered by the Niobrara County school district for K-12 students throughout the state.

Now another online public school, Wyoming Connections Academy (WYCA), has appeared on GCSD’s radar. This academy operates through Big Horn County School District #1 and enrolled a couple of Goshen County students last year.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual academies gaining local momentum

Virtual academies gaining local momentum

Alternative learning is on the rise in Goshen County.

In 2009, the Goshen County School District (GCSD) joined the Wyoming Virtual Academy, a distance-learning program offered by the Niobrara County school district for K-12 students throughout the state.

Now another online public school, Wyoming Connections Academy (WYCA), has appeared on GCSD’s radar. This academy operates through Big Horn County School District #1 and enrolled a couple of Goshen County students last year.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual academies gaining local momentum

Virtual school info wrong

An article printed on the front page of the Gillette News Record titled, “Virtual School may lose $70,000 next year” misleadingly suggested that somehow it is the fault of students that Campbell County Virtual School is not “making the grade” and students are responsible for the deficit in funding.

When you actually dig into the facts they plainly reveal the program has totally been mismanaged from the beginning and that is the reason for the deficit. Unrealistic milestone requirements which are directly tied to funding set up a no win situation from the beginning. Mismanagement without accountability equals a seemingly failing program on paper.

One CCSD administrator plainly told us when asked about the lack of information out in the public about CCVS: “If too many people went to CCVS or started traditional home schooling, some teacher might lose their job. And they might have a family to feed.”

That clearly shows more concern for jobs then students. Schools were not designed for the benefit of providing people jobs, but to educate students. They have lost their focus totally.

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Big Horn school district to offer virtual school

A Big Horn County school district has partnered with a company to operate a virtual school that may be available to all Wyoming students.

Baltimore-based Connections Academy and Big Horn County District 1 have formed Wyoming Connections Academy.

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Virtual Schools Becoming Reality in Wyoming

It seems like everything now days involves the internet or at least technology of some sort. The internet has taken over almost every aspect of human living and now it’s taking over schools! Taking online classes at universities and colleges became a reality in just the past several years but now students from around Wyoming could attend virtual school.

A school district in Big Horn County has partnered with a company to operate a virtual school that may be available to all Wyoming students. Wyoming Connections Academy is a newly formed virtual school started by Baltimore based Connections Academy and Big Horn County District 1.

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Wyoming virtual school moves from Jackson to Cowley

Wyoming Connections Academy will switch school districts next year in an effort to enroll more students in the statewide online education program.

The academy is a public school that enrolls about 100 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The school receives state funding, hires Wyoming certified teachers, teaches to state standards and is bound to the same accountability requirements as other public schools.

The school has been under Teton County School District 1 since 2009 and will move to Big Horn County School District 1 in Cowley in the fall. Academy principal Ben Kolb said the Teton district wasn’t a good fit for a number of reasons and the school and district are parting on good terms.

The school district required students to have memoranda of understanding from their home districts. The memo stated that the student remained enrolled in his or her home district while the virtual school took responsibility for all academic programming.

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Wyoming, Godwin Heights dump shared superintendent system; tap insiders to lead districts

Reeder, 48, is a Wyoming Park alumnus who has worked in the district’s central office the past 20 years. He said the community has changed much during that time — students eligible for free or reduced-price school meals has risen from about 10 percent to 70 percent, for example, and English language learners have grown from about 25 students to 800.

“I want people to look at Wyoming and have envy. We can lay a new foundation.”
Currently the associate superintendent, Reeder devised the launch of the district’s online academy, Frontiers. Exploring innovative ways to teach students will be key, he said.

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Virtual School may lose $70,000 next year

Campbell County Virtual School — an elementary home-schooling program that serves 35 students from Campbell County and 32 students from other Wyoming counties — has lost the Campbell County School District almost $1 million since the program started in the fall 2006.

It is a problem that is directly tied to Virtual School’s enrollment and student performance, both of which never have been high enough to cover expenditures.

The yearly deficit has dropped in recent years as more students joined and funding standards were lowered by the state. In 2008, the Virtual School ran a deficit of $567,655 when the district ran the program entirely on its own. In 2010, it ran a deficit of $7,864.

While the students learn at home, they have access to school facilities like computer labs and the Planetarium.

The program may even turn a small profit at the end of this school year.

But the school district expects more deficits in the future if more new students don’t sign up.

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