Baraboo School Board approves online courses for middle school students

The Baraboo School Board approved a full-time online learning program for grades seven and eight at Jack Young Middle School during its Monday meeting.

The new middle school instruction will expand the district’s online programs, which only have been offered at Baraboo High School for grades nine through 12.

Baraboo School District online coordinator Shelly Gillmore told board members that since online options were first offered to high school students in 2015, she’s been approached by several parents who are interested in enrolling their middle school-aged children in similar programs.

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Virtual School news from West Virginia...

Lawmakers Saturday completed legislation giving home-schoolers access to public vocational education centers, giving them access to public school sports and allowing county public school systems to offer home-schoolers and others full-time K-12 virtual education — while getting state funding for it. 

Saturday was the last day of the regular legislative session. Gov. Jim Justice still hasn’t signed or vetoed any of the bills that were finished by midnight.

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Online academy is perfect solution for an Indiana student

BROWNSBURG — A terminal illness is a lot for anyone to deal with, and especially so when you’re only 16.

Andrew Rusk of Brownsburg has been struggling with mitochondrial myopathy — a form of muscular dystrophy — for all of his young life. The disease makes many aspects of Rusk’s life difficult, not the least of which is his education.

“Andrew was unable to excel in his traditional brick and mortar school, and a high school diploma seemed unattainable,” Dylan Martinez of the Pinkston Group said. “Andrew’s parents tried everything to get him on track academically — half-days, skyping into classes, homeschool — but nothing seemed to give Andrew the kind of educational environment he needs.”

Then, they found Hoosier Academy. Continue reading here.

Marissa A. White: Online schools an option for bullied students

As an education professional involved in public education policy, I have recently taken a bit of criticism, even harassment, from a few colleagues for, ironically, enrolling one of my kids at a private online school. Last October, one of my children became the ongoing target of bullying. After five 5 months of back and forth with the school, I concluded my daughter had had enough.

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Virtual School Prepared This Student for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Laura Majewski is nine months into four years of hard work at U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA.) Out of nearly 2,000 applications, Laura was one of 380 young adults who was offered an appointment to USMMA, and one of 279 who reported to the Academy last summer.

This K12-powered student attended Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA) for middle school and Insight School of Washington (ISWA) for high school. She graduated from ISWA and Everett Community College in Spring 2016.

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New virtual high school launches in Michigan

MUSKEGON, MI -- A new online and non-traditional high school will give students in Muskegon County a different way to receive their diploma.

Success Virtual Learning Center, a cyber charter school, opened at 950 Norton Ave. mid-January and it has about 50 students. The school is sponsored by Berrien Springs Public Schools.

Students in ninth grade up to 22-years-old are eligible to attend. The center focuses on helping students receive a high school diploma who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out.

Todd Smith, the Muskegon Center director, said the need for a center in the Muskegon area was recognized. It becomes one of 14 in the state that serve more than 1,300 students.

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Memphis parents deserve school choice

My twins, Jordan and Jia, have always been special. Born prematurely, they spent the first few weeks of their lives in the neonatal intensive care unit. Jordan was especially small, weighing less than four pounds at birth.

Those early days in the hospital were followed by years of occupational therapy at home. I promised God that, if He would let me have two healthy children, I would do everything in my power to provide the best life for them – no matter what.

At the time, I was an elementary school teacher with Shelby County Schools. But when I needed to choose a preschool for Jordan and Jia, I knew a traditional public school just wasn’t right for my kids. They needed extra attention, stability and care. That’s why I enrolled my twins at St. Michael School, a private school here in Memphis.

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School choice advocates gear up for big win

President Trump's victory in the 2016 election and Betsy DeVos' subsequent confirmation as secretary of education have school choice advocates looking for one of their biggest policy successes in the history of their movement.

Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., wants to capitalize on that control of government by making it easier for parents to pay for their kids to receive an education outside the public school system. He has proposed legislation geared toward giving flexibility to low-income and middle class families. It would loosen restrictions on education savings accounts to allow parents to use those savings for secondary education tuition or even for the costs of homeschooling. Its most dramatic effect is that it would give states the ability to use federal funding to subsidize the tuition of low-income students who choose to enroll in private or charter schools. Read more here.

Newark schools superintendent: Why charters succeed | Opinion

By Chris Cerf   

I serve as superintendent of the Newark Public Schools and previously served as the state commissioner of education. In both capacities, I have defined my goal in precisely the same way: to do everything possible to assure that every child, regardless of birth circumstances, has access to a free, high-quality public education that launches him or her into adulthood prepared for success.

The most striking aspect of Charles Wowkanech's opinion article in The Star-Ledger ("Charter schools threaten diversity") is that he is indifferent to this basic and, in my view, inarguable goal. Stuck in the same ideological quagmire that has consumed so many others, his view is that public charter schools are bad and traditional public schools are inherently good. In service of that argument, he then proceeds to misstate a rather remarkable array of objectively provable facts about public education in New Jersey.

Keep reading here.